Samara Region is one of the most economically developed and investment-friendly entities of the Russian Federation. The Region is situated in the south-eastern part of European Russia and covers 53,600 km², which is 0.31% of the overall territory of Russia. This is one of the largest traffic centers crossed by the shortest routes from Central and Western Europe to Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

The population of Samara Region is 3.1 million people as of 1^st January 2007. The region is one of the regions with the highest urbanization level: the urban population accounts for 80.4% of the total population of the region. More than two-thirds of the population reside in the four largest cities: Samara (36%), Togliatti (22%), Syzran and Novokuybyshevsk. According to the UNDP Report, “Regions of Russia: Goals, Problems, Achievements” (UNDP in Russia, May 2008), Samara Region is a region with a high standard of living, taking 10^th place among RF entities and 2^nd place among the entities of the Volga Federal District (VFD), in terms of the human potential development index. In the opinion of UNDP experts, Samara Region’s experience in raising the population’s standard and quality of living could be of great interest to many other entities in the Russian Federation. According to the “Welfare Level” integral indicator, based on a certain set of statistical indicators, Samara Region has retained 6^th place among the other Russian regions and remains behind St-Petersburg, Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Lipetsk and Moscow Regions.

The region has significant reserves of mineral deposits and is one of the main oil extraction and oil processing regions in the country. Samara Region accounts for 1.5% and 3% of oil reserves and extraction respectively, on mainland Russia.

At present, Samara Region is one of the most developed industrial areas of the country. The industrial complex includes 476 large and medium-size enterprises and over 3,500 small businesses.

Samara Region has significant scientific, technical and technological potential due to the presence of a multi-sector economy, a large number of machine-building enterprises (mainly automobile, aviation and aerospace companies) and close cooperation between scientists from Samara and scientific centers in Moscow and the Volga Federal District. Scientific research is carried out under state, inter-sector and regional programs.

The region holds a strong position in the top five leading regions of Russia in terms of investment activity. The region is characterized by large amounts of foreign investment entering the region’s economy and implementation of many large-scale investment projects where foreign capital is present. Samara Region has a “BB+” international pre-investment level credit rating with a “Stable” forecast according to Standard and Poor’s and Ba1’s scales; a “Stable” forecast according to “Moody’s” scale; “ruAA+” availability of national credit rating according to Standard and Poor’s, and “Aa1.ru” according to the Moody’s Interfax Rating Agency scale.

The city of Samara – the capital of Samara Region – has a high credit and investment rating. The direct investments per capita indicator is 2.5 times higher than the overall Russian average.