Saratov region as it is now was formed in 1934. At present it occupies 100 thousand square kilometers. It consist of 30 administrative districts, 12 towns, 30 workers' settlements and about 2000 other settlements. According to the census (1990) the population is 2.7 mn. people, urban population is approximately 2 mn. people (74.3%). The density of the population is 27 people per 1 square km.

The main administrative city of the region is Saratov (908.9 thousand people). 49% of the region's production volume falls to the city, 38% of the industrial production fund belongs to the city and 55% of industrial personnel work in Saratov.

Saratov region is situated in the Volga river economic area. In the north it is conterminal to Ulianovsk, Samara and Penza regions; in the west to Tambov and Voronezh regions in the south to Volgograd region; in the east to Kazakhstan.

The region territory stretches from the west to the east for 500 km, from the north to the south for 150 km in the western part and for 300 km in the eastern part. The Volga river divides the region into two parts: right-bank in the west and left-bank in the east, which is called Zavolzhie. The region area equals the area of such countries as Belgium, Switzerland and Albania combined.

Taking into consideration the level of industrial development, Saratov region is third place in the Volga economical area. As far as the level of agriculture is concerned, it is number one place. In the structure of industrial complex, 37% belong to the machine building industry, 15% to the oil and oil-chemical industry and 13.5% to the food industry. All these industries have federal importance.

In general industry, in the region is presented by more than 2000 large and middle-sized enterprises with developed instrument making, electronics, aircraft manufacture, machine-tool manufacture, oil and gas production and processing, chemical and construction industries.

Almost all trolley-busses production (98%), gear planer production, about 90% of spark-plugs production, a quarter of the total output in CIS of chemical fiber and polished glass production is concentrated in the region.

Enterprises and companies of the region export goods into more than 67 countries of the world. Exported product cost is about 101.5 Bl Rbls (according to the internal prices), including convertible currency of 83.8 B/L RBIs. Saratov region exports mainly:

• raw materials (87.4%);
• machines and equipment (7.9%);
• industrial consumer goods (4.7%) of the total export cost.

The largest part of the exported products is:
• fertilizers (32.9%);
• petroleum products (21.9%);
• chemical product (10.2%);
• chemical fibers (7.1%);
• household refrigerators (2.7%).

Saratov region exports annually (1993):
• petroleum and petroleum products 733.1 thousand tons;
• chemical products 41.0 thousand tons;
• fertilizers 436.7 thousand tons;
• glass 2352.3 thousand sq. m;
• household refrigerators 56.9 thousand Pcs;
• rubber products 1.5 thousand tons;
• olive seed 7.7 thousand tons;
• leather 1.6 thousand tons;
• cotton fabrics 1.2 thousand tons;
• chemical fibers 5.3 thousand tons;
• chemical staple fibers 8.5 thousand tons;
• metal construction and their parts 3.1 thousand tons;
• machine-tools 105 pcs;
• rolling bearings 905.5 tons;
• electric accumulators 10.273 pcs.

In 1994, thirty-two joint ventures with foreign companies were functioning in the region. In 1993, these companies produced products and rendered services to the population for the sum of R26.55 bn.

The construction materials industry is highly developed in the region. This branch produces reinforced concrete, bricks, asbestos-cement boards, lumber and as for cement products, the region is in the first place in the Volga area. The enterprises of glass industry produce industrial polished glass. The region occupies one of the first places in the world in stalinite production.

The main trends of the regional agriculture are determined by grain-crabs, meat and milk cattle-breeding and meat and wool sheep-breeding. In the volume of grain harvest, Saratov region is in the second place in Russia after Krasnodar region. In the volume of the most valuable hard wheat production, it is in the first place.

Saratov is one of the biggest rail junctions in Russia. It connects the Central Russia with the Ural, Siberia and Central Asia. A new international rail line Saratov-Berlin has been functioning since 1993.

Saratov is one of the largest river ports in the Volga region. River routes connect Saratov with Moscow, the main industrial center of Russia (via the Channel named after Moscow), the Eastern Urals (via the Kama river), the Black sea (via the Volga-Don Channel), the Baltic sea (via the Volga-Balt river system).

From the saratov airport it's possible to get quickly to all main Russian cities.

The privatization process has passed successfully in Saratov region and that was a positive incentive to create and to develop securities market. Almost 800 enterprises have been privatized in the region, among them the giants of federal importance such as: "NITRON" (chemical production), "SPZ-3" (bearing production), "SAZ" (aviation industry), "SEPO" (refrigerators production), "TANTAL" (electronics industry), etc. Some of the Companies have had secondary equity issues and their stocks have illed up the securities market of the Volga region. At present the regional Property Fund is preparing packets of stocksof some industrial and agricultural companies to be sold through commercial and investment auctions. The list of these companies include, for example, " ELMASH" (electronics industry), "ELECTROBYTPRIBOR" (production of household appliances), "AGROPROMTRANS" and "SARATOVAUTOTRANS" (transport services), "Volsky Mechanical Bakery", several elevators in districts of the region and others.

Today the local Department of Finance have given more than 80 licenses to investment companies, 12 voucher investment funds have been working (all of them were created during the process of privatization), 40 commercial banks and their subsidiaries render all possible services to the population and to the companies. First in Russia municipal mortgage bank was founded in Saratov and it functions now. The Saratov Stock Exchange has been actively working for the last 4 years. About 10 non-state pension funds were registered in Saratov.

The City Government has issued municipal short-term bonds with the maturity date on May 31, 1995. The regional Government has approved the program of regional short-term bonds issue and now several projects of housing securities issue are submitted for consideration.

The securities and Exchanges Commission at which the best specialists in securities from different investment institutions work has been created by the regional and city Government. Now there are Social Committee of shareholders' rights, Association of dealers and brokers, Association of securities specialists, Volga regional association of securities market specialists' participants which was founded by Saratov regional Property Fund.

Saratov region possesses a large scientific and cultural potential. Only in Saratov there are 11 higher educational institutes at which 49,000 students study now; about 30 scientific-research institutes including academy of science; more than 100 secondary schools, 25 musical and art schools.

Saratov University, one of the oldest in Russia, was founded in 1909. The Saratov Conservatory, the third biggest and well known in Russia after the Moscow and Saint-Petersburg ones, is one of the few which has its own organ. This organ has been installed by the German company "Zauer". Saratov is the city of old theater traditions. It has 5 theaters: The Opera House, The Drama theater, The Theater for young spectators, Musical comedy theater and the Puppet theater. The shows at the local Circus which has recently celebrated its 100 anniversary are very popular among the people. There are also 5 museums in Saratov.

The region Museum of local history is one of the largest and most interesting ones. Saratov Art Gallery named after Radischev is famous for its enormous collections of the Old-Russian, Russian avant-garde and Western-European works of art as well as for works of the Soviet period. Connoisseurs call it "The Volga Hermitage".

It comes out from all the above-stated that Saratov and Saratov region do not only have rich and glorious past, but it is also a perspective region with big future. In spite of the fact Saratov is more than 400 years old, it is a young, developing and progressive city.

The regional and city Governments invite possible investors who have serious intentions and real aims to participate in realization of joint projects concerning industries available in the region, to hold an experiment to introduce new market methods of investments' attraction, guarantee any maintenance in reforming of the local economy and offer co-operation to all companies and organizations who are interested in activity at Russian securities market or in any other types of activities profitable both for the region and for foreign participants.

This information was provided by the Saratov Center for Business Development on behalf of the Government of the Saratov region. For more information contact Alexander Stepanov, Minister of Economics and Investment Politics of the Government of Saratov region at his e-mail address: bsupport@bcenter.saratov.su.

Last Updated: June 10 1999. Copyright Russian-American Chamber of Commerce® 1995-1999. All rights reserved.