CEO presses Kremlin chief on red-tape nightmare

* Alcoa CEO presses Medvedev on 47,000-page tax headache

* Presses Medvedev on promises to make life easier

* Kremlin says CEOs still want to invest

By Darya Korsunskaya and Guy Faulconbridge

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 6 (Reuters) - Voicing a gripe about excessive red tape stifling business, a top U.S. CEO on Saturday complained to Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev about having to submit 47,000 pages of documents to tax inspectors.

After his election as Russian president last year, Medvedev promised to tackle the rampant bureaucracy which has been the bane of merchants here since Tsarist times.

Medvedev thanked about 50 business leaders at a private meeting for continuing to invest in Russia and said authorities were trying their best to deal with the economic crisis, which has hammered Russia's $1.7 trillion economy.

But at the meeting on a tour boat moored on the Gulf of Finland, the CEO of Alcoa Inc (AA.N), one of the biggest U.S. aluminium producers, asked the Kremlin chief to follow through on promises to cut red tape.

"In your first speech to the Russian nation as president, you addressed that point on the aspect of the dealing with the tax authorities and I just want give you one piece of information," said Alcoa President and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld.

"Last year in Samara alone we had to deliver 47,000 pages of copies to the tax authorities and that is by no means a normal number and doesn't bow to any benchmark," he said. "I know that it is not easy but it is a pain, a pain every day."

Russian officials say the economic crisis means that foreign investment is more important to Moscow now.

But business leaders say a host of corporate disputes and the drain of dealing with the bureaucracy remains a barrier to more investment.

Medvedev agreed with Kleinfeld that financial reporting requirements were clumsy and called again on officials to stop making life so difficult for business.

"Our financial accounting is really clumsy. Electronic documents are really not very developed and we must do everything to make sure we don't waste so much paper on reporting," Medvedev said.

"It should be reduced and we will strive to reduce this accounting pressure," he said.

Top Kremlin economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich told Reuters the meeting had been very businesslike and open. Foreign businessmen still wanted to invest in Russia, he added. (Editing by Jon Hemming)