MOSCOW, March 28 (RAPSI) – The Government Commission for Monitoring Foreign Investments (Commission) has registered 11 petitions requesting investments in strategic assets and amounting to billions of US dollars since the beginning of 2016, Igor Artemyev, the head of Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Agency, told journalists.

“In Q1 2016 we received more petitions than in 2015,” a statement released by the watchdog quoted Artemyev as having said.

The petitions were filed by companies from Japan, US, Norway, and Cyprus, as well as some other countries, Artemyev said after the meeting of the Commission chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Foreign businesses are interested in purchasing shares in companies servicing Russia’s ports, active in pharmaceutical business, nuclear and subsoil sectors, and printing equipment producers, according to Artemyev.

Notably, the acquisition of 15% of shares in Vankorneft, a subsidiary of Rosneft that owns the largest oil field discovered in Russia in 25 years, by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, was discussed at the meeting. ONGC is to pay about $ 1.3 billion for the right to take part in the development of the field.

The Commission also approved a petition which was filed by Molumin AG seeking to purchase 75% of shares in Geotekhnologia, a Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky based company controlling the second largest nickel deposit in the country.

“We are working on about 15 such transactions, which is a lot. Even in quieter times we received significantly less than 15 transactions per quarter. I believe that investors, who desisted from any actions and movements under the conditions of political and economic uncertainty, started making serious decisions in Q1 2016 and approach the Commission. They desire to invest their money in strategic assets of the Russian state – it is a very good signal,” a statement quoted Artemyev as having said.