Other participants of the session included: Anatoly Artamonov, Governor of the Kaluga Region; Mikko Ayub, Member of the Board of Directors, JSC Nordea Bank, Russia; Jan-Olof Jacke, President, AstraZeneca AB; Zoran Lukovic, CEO, Ericsson in Russia; Sergey Tsyb, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Anatoliy Usov, Regional Director, Russia & CIS, SKF; Sergei Yavorski, CEO, Volvo Vostok; Sergey Mikhnevich, Director of the Centre for Multilateral Cooperation, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). Andreas Giallourakis, Head, Swedish Trade and Invest Council in Russia & the CIS moderated the event. 

In his report Frank Schauff touched upon the issues of localisation and application of special investment contracts (SPICs) by foreign companies. 

He noted that according to the AEB position, the current provisions on the liability of an investor who has concluded a SPIC are excessive, as they impose sanctions on the investor that are too severe. And this, in turn, discourages many companies from implementing investment projects under the SPIC mechanism.

"We are observing the following trend: on one hand, the Russian Government is taking measures to stimulate the localisation process, but on the other hand, it is restricting the admission of certain goods for state and municipal procurement. This situation often leads to the creation of unequal conditions for market participants, limits fair competition and reduces the attractiveness of localisation in Russia", said Frank Schauff.