Saratov was founded in 1590 as a small wooden fortress to protect Russian frontiers from nomads from the Volga steppes. At the end of the last century it became one of the most important centers of the Russian Empire. It was famous for its wheat, which was exported to many countries, including even Australia. It was also famous for its iron and steel works, dockyards, and mills to which people brought grain for grinding from all around European Russia.
       Saratov boasted Russia's first professional drama theater, first public museum of fine arts, and first electric streetcar. Saratov's Medical, Agricultural, Archive-Ethnographic and Scientific Societies were also oldest in Russia.

       In those times Saratov was often described as "the capital of the Volga region."

       Today, Saratov is a regional center, the territory of which exceeds 100,2 thousand square kilometers. Saratov Region has 55 large and small towns and a population of three million, urban population is Approximately 2 million people. The main administrative city of the region is Saratov approaches one million people. 48,9% of region's production volume fails to the city, 38% of industrial production fund belong to the city and 55% of industrial personnel work in Saratov.

       Saratov region is situated in the Volga river economic area. In the north it is contiguous to Ulianovsk, Samara and Penza regions; in the west - to Tambov and Voronezh regions; in the south - to Volgograd region; in the east - to Kazakhstan.

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       The region territory stretches from the west to the east for 500 km, from the north to the south for 150 km in the western part and for 300 km in the eastern part.

       The region area equals the area of such countries as Belgium, Switzerland and Albania combined.

       In general industry in the region is presented by more then 2000 large and middle-sized enterprises with developed instrument making, electronics, aircraft manufacture, machine-tool manufacture, oil and gas production and processing, chemical and construction industries.

Enterprises and companies of the region export goods into more then 67 countries of the world. Saratov region exports mainly:

• raw materials (87,4 %)
• machines and equipment ( 7,9 %),
• industrial consumer goods ( 4,7 %) of the total export cost.

       The main trends of the regional agriculture are determined by grain-crops, meat and milk cattle-breeding and meat and wool sheep-breeding. In the volume of grain harvest Saratov region is in the second place in Russia after Krasnodar region.

       Saratov is one of the biggest rail junctions in Russia. It connected the Central Russia with the Ural, Siberia and Central Asia. A new international rail line Saratov - Berlin has been functioning since 1993. Saratov is one of the largest river ports in the Volga region. River routes connect Saratov with Moscow, the main industrial center of Russia, ( via the Channel named after Moscow ), the Eastern Ural ( via the Kama river), the Black sea ( via the Volga-Don Channel), the Baltic sea ( via the Volga-Balt river system).

       From Saratov airport it's possible to get quickly to all main Russian cities.

       The privatization process has passed successfully in Saratov region and that was a positive incentive to create and to develop securities market.

       Despite current difficulties, people in Saratov believe that their city and region have a bright future. This belief is based on three factors: a favorable balance between industrial and agricultural production, the abundance of natural resources, and friendly climatic conditions.

       The region needs investment for converting defense industry enterprises to civil production, for modernizing old plants and factories, and for creating service infrastructures. People in the region hope that foreign investment will be attracted by the new potential in Saratov, now that the region has been made open to foreigners. Several major Western companies already operate in Saratov.