Kuril Islands Photo:VCG

Representatives from India, China, Turkey and the UAE were among dozens of companies and organizations attending an investment event attracting foreign investors to the Kuril Islands in Russia's Far East, Russian news outlet aif.ru reported on Friday.

Representatives from 25 Russian companies, 10 international companies and countries, and representatives of seven international business associations attended a Thursday event on the investment potential in the Kuril Islands in Moscow. The Russian government offered preferential tax policies to foreign investors in the Kuril Islands in March, exempting businesses 20 years' income taxes and other taxes and offered access to a free customs zone. 

It is reported that representatives from India, China, Turkey, the UAE and diplomats from Bahrain, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and China were present at the conference.

The Kuril Islands sit on vast oil and gas reserves and are located nearby important world shipping routes.

In recent years, the Russian government has been stepping up promotions for investment opportunities in the Kuril Islands in the Sakhalin region.

The event took place as Western companies and investors are pulling out of the Russian market amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A former Russian official in the Far East told the Global Times on Friday that attracting investment bears more weight than developing trade in the region.

Attracting capital and technology from friendly countries to nurture local industries and setting up joint ventures to work on projects that meet the traits of local conditions would best suit the development of the area, the former official said, wishing to remain anonymous. 

Typical areas for cooperation include developing nuclear power station, real estate, vegetable farms, aquaculture and tourism, the person said.

The former Russian official, now a businessman, said there is no way Japan can participate in these issues, whether it be through investment or territorial discussions.

In March, Russia declared Japan an "unfriendly" nation and said it would withdraw from peace treaty talks with Tokyo.