By Country / Russia
Russia Drafts Bill On Foreign Investment In Strategic Sectors
July 19, 2007
Russia's State Duma (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)
bill regulating foreign investment in 39 "strategic sectors", including
arms, aviation, space, and nuclear energy.
Russian newspapers said under the bill, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has received the right to veto deals.
The bill has been delayed and revised repeatedly since President Vladimir Putin ordered its drafting in 2005.
It does not cover investment in the oil and gas sectors, as a separate law regulating them is still being worked out.
Meanwhile, the Japanese carmaker Toyota has announced plans to open a new production facility and a bank in Russia later this year.
The new production facility is expected to start operations in December near St. Petersburg.
A spokesman for Toyota KreditBank in Cologne said today that Russia has the potential to become one of the biggest automobile markets in Europe.
He said the Russian central bank has already issued a license for the new bank.
(AFP, "Kommersant," "Vedomosti," dpa)