Participants of the Forum "Caucasus. Traditions and Modernization" believe that authorities hamper business in the Caucasus

One of the sections of the Forum "Caucasus. Traditions and Modernization", held today in Kabardino-Balkaria, was on the forms and problems of running business in the Caucasus. Many participants agreed that local authorities are hindering successful businesses in the Caucasus.

This is the first ever forum of this sort. It is attended by delegations from seven national republics of Northern Caucasus and other cities of Russia.

"It was my pleasure to hear that, in spite of rather serious distinctions among the subjects of the federation of Northern Caucasus, businessmen work successfully enough; natives of one subject work in other ones," said Oleg Alekseev, a member of the Public Chamber and moderator of the business section.

Still, the disputants have noted a number of obstacles to development of successful businesses in Northern Caucasus.

First of all, according to Vyacheslav Derev, president of the "Mercury" group of company, the authorities are an obstacle. "I believe that we develop against them; they render no help," he said.

"In my opinion, the problem is in segregation of the power and society. It looks like everybody 'boils his pot'. There's no interaction, and since there's no interaction, there's no system of control," said businessman Bukar Gamidullaev.

In the opinion of Elena Nikolaeva, deputy chair of the All-Russian Public Organization "Business Russia" and a member of the Public Chamber, there are two reasons why investments do not flow to the Caucasus: investors see no ways to sell their products; and the region lacks stability.