On December 13, Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov had a meeting with chairmen of regional offices of the public organization “OPORA of Russia” – participants of the forum “Small and medium-sized business: regional growth points”.

The forum organized by the OPORA of Russia with the support of Tatarstan Ministry of Economy, Tatarstan Investment Development Agency and Tatarstan Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights started its work in Kazan on December 12. About 50 business representatives from more than 30 Russian regions, as well as President of the Public Organization “Opora Rossii” Alexander Kalinin and heads of its regional offices are taking part in the event.

The forum is aimed at discussing possibilities for businesses from other regions to enter the Tatarstan market. The discussions are mainly focused on the study of the industrial potential of the republic within the industrial and innovative platforms and possibilities of extending the experience of Tatarstan to other regions of Russia.

Commenting on the situation in the field of development of small and medium-sized businesses in Tatarstan, Alexander Kalinin noted that the Opora of Russia in partnership with one of the Russian banks has developed the business sentiment index. According to Kalinin, the average business sentiment index in Russia is 49.7, which speaks rather of a negative assessment of the situation by entrepreneurs, while in Tatarstan this figure makes 50.9.

"Tatarstan is among regions, where entrepreneurs have a positive attitude towards business development,” he said.

According to him, the republic became a leader due to the index characterizing the willingness of business to invest. "In the country, this index made 38.8 in September. People either do not want or fear to invest in today's business environment. In Tatarstan this figure is 51.7, that is Tatarstan entrepreneurs want to invest even under such economic conditions," Kalinin said.

He went on to say that the development of infrastructure and industrial sites in the republic, as well as effective government support for businesses contributed to this. He noted that 13 of 23 industrial sites in Tatarstan were established by representatives from the OPORA of Russia. This, according to him, shows that businessmen trust the regional authorities and this experience should be expanded to other regions.

During his meeting with participants of the forum Tatarstan Prime Minister answered questions related to regional experience of development and support of small and medium-sized businesses.