OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2009. The Russian Bank for Development took part in the meeting of the Russian-German working group “Banks/Financial Services” which was held in Tula. From the Russian part the event was organized by the Bank of Russia, from the German part – by the Federal Finance Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, reported the press-centre of Russian Bank for Development.

One of the key questions of the agenda was discussion of small and middle businesses functioning. Nadezhda Martynova, Deputy Chairman of the Board of RBD made a report at the meeting. She told Russian and European colleagues about measures taken by the RF Government to support SMEs. According to Mrs. Martynova one of the important steps in this area is SME lending support implemented by the State Corporation “Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” through the Russian Bank for Development. “SME lending support is one of the priority business areas of Vnesheconombank. In compliance with the RF Government plans in 2009 RUR 30 billion will be allocated for these needs. As soon as this money comes to Vnesheconombank it will be immediately channeled to SME lending via RBD’s counter-party banks”, N. Martynova said.

In addition within the framework of the meeting RBD held a number of consultations and bilateral meetings dealing with involvement in the SME Lending Support Program. In the course of this work N. Martynova explained to the local authorities and concerned regional financial institutions the priorities of RBD’s activities and commented on the plans and general provisions of the Program as well as the procedure fir selection of the counter-party banks.