OREANDA-NEWS. At the second Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Vnesheconombank, Government of the Khabarovsk Territory, OOO Management Company RFP Group and OOO Asia Lessigned a letter of intent to set up a forest industry cluster in Russia’s Far East.

For Vnesheconombank, the document was signed by Chairman Sergey Gorkov, for the Government of the Khabarovsk Territory – Governor and Chairman of the Government of the Khabarovsk Territory VyacheslavShport, for the RFP Group – Director General Konstantin Lashkevich and for OOO Asia Les – Director AleksandrPudovkin.

In pursuance of the Order by the Government of the Russian Federation, the Parties explored the feasibility of creating in Russia’s Far East a specialized forest industry cluster. The cluster is to comprise over twenty participants including major logging andtimber processing companies of the region, as well as companies providing financial, administrative, transport, training and research facilities.

The LOI provides for the parties to jointly act as the anchor residents to createand further develop the cluster. In a short time, there will be a task group established, a road map developed and a specialized non-for-profit company set up to act as the cluster administrator.

In its turn, Vnesheconombankintends to perform the function of a moderator for state aid to the cluster residents, as well asrender comprehensive support in terms of raising, structuring and streamlining debt finance for investment projects.

VEB is a major investor in the forest industry in Russiaand the Far Eastern Federal District. The Bank helps deliver major investment projects on timber processing in the region. The Bank’s overall investment in projects designed to develop the Far Eastern forest industry complex approximates to RUB 40bn.

The forest industry cluster project in the Far East will add to the competitive edge of the Russian forest products and boost their share in key export markets.

The RFP Group is the largest timber group in the Russian Far East with forest resources exceeding 4.5mn ha and a 4.1mn m3authorized logging site. The company’s annual timber harvesting exceeds 2mn m3, or 15% of the total timber harvesting in the Far East. In partnership with Vnesheconombank, the RFP Group delivers the largest in Amursk (Khabarovsk Territory) investment project on value-added timber processing: The Amursk Centre for Value-Added Timber Processing. Total investment in the project amounts to over RUB 12bn.

Asia Les is a vertically integrated group of companies in the northeast of the Khabarovsk Territory. The group engages in logging, timber processing, logistics and export of forest products, with an authorized logging site exceeding 1.6mn m3. In partnership with Vnesheconombank, the group delivers a project on the construction of a sawmill with estimated capacity of 200,000 m3 p.a. of dried lumber, 100,000 m3 p.a. of planed profiled timber and 84,000t p.a. of wood pellets.