|                                                                                                                                                                                     |  | NEW EFFORTS TO PROMOTE INVESTMENT IN SAMARA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
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|**BISNISHome PageSearchBISNISEmbassyReportsCountryReportsIndustryReportsCustomsCornerPublicationsSourcesof FinanceFinanceLinkLeadsand EventsExchangeRatesState ExportsOtherSources** |  | April 1999In February, the U.S. Government inaugurated an American Business Center (ABC) in the Volga
city
of Samara, some 600 miles southeast of Moscow. The new abc is collocated with the United
States'
Regional Investment Initiative (RII) coordinator, who arrived in April 1997. Samara Oblast has
repeatedly been rated among the most attractive regions in Russia for investment, in part because
of its progressive and efficient local government. Last year, U.S. firms invested $50 million in
Samara, which offers opportunities for trade and investment in agribusiness, auto parts,
engineering,
and more.The ABC office in Samara provides professional office and business support services for U.S.
companies seeking to do business there. The rii in Samara is part of the Gore-Primakov
Commission's activities and is focused on increasing trade and investment with regions that have
already proven commercially successful for U.S. companies. rii efforts will include joint work
with
regional authorities aimed at addressing key obstacles to investment, mobilization of finance for
private sector trade and investment, and promoting partnerships between U.S. and Russian
regionally
based investment promotion agencies, state/oblast officials, business organizations, universities,
and
other nongovernmental organizations. rii progams are also operating in the Russian city of
Novgorod and the Far East, as well as in the cities of Kharkhiv, Ukraine, and Atyrau,
Kazakhstan.The RII coordinator for Samara is Joan Agerholm. She can be contacted at tel/fax: +7 (8462)
38-48-53 or e-mail: [email protected].The Samara ABC can be reached at tel/fax: +7 (8462) 79-20-41, 79-20-42, 79-20-43; website:
cnit.ssau.ru/ABC/.This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly
Independent States (BISNIS)