"Russia remains the focus of great attention on the part of investors in countries all over the world. In nine months of 2006 the volume of foreign investment increased by 55% as compared to the same period in 2005," PWC said in its 10th annual Global CEO Survey released Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The poll, which covered 1,100 chief executive officers from 50 countries, said CEOs were certain of Russia's positive economic outlook.
"Geographically, CEOs expect growth will continue in the widely-recognized BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) territories, as well as other emerging and developed economies," the survey said.
However, Mike Kubena, General Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers Russia, warned against relying solely on economic growth and rising purchasing power of local consumers, and urged Russia to improve its investment climate and business image abroad.
"In the past few years we have observed a rise in the mutual interests of the Russian and overseas business communities," he said. "Russian companies are building up their presence in overseas stock and commodities markets."
After complimenting Russian companies for keeping up with the global trend of cross-border business consolidation and for acquiring assets abroad, Kubena said transparency was a key to establishing a strong corporate reputation.
"A company's reputation plays a major role within the process of integration happening in the world economy - the outcome of cooperation depends on how transparent a business is, how well its system of governance is structured, and how sustainable it is and open," the general director said.
