Samara region’s governor Vladimir Artyakov said in his budget message this month that the region has all the opportunities to reach pre-recession levels by 2012 considering the positive recovery rate in 2010 and the regional economic forecast for 2011.

Artyakov said that all major sectors of economic activity in the region are in the process of post-recession recovery. If the recovery rate remains stable the region will be able to surpass pre-recession levels in 2012.

International food company Nestle SA has trumpeted that by starting production of two premium chocolate lines in Russia's Samara region, a move that will create 149 new jobs and allows the Swiss food giant to assemble its Russian chocolate manufacturing operations in one place. Nestle said the two production lines for its premium brand Komilfo, which it acquired by purchasing the local Ruzskaya Konditerskiy Fabrika in 2007, were transferred from the Tuchkovo factory near Moscow to the Samara region, in southwest Russia, where 600 people are claimed to have been employed.