OREANDA-NEWS. June 03, 2009. Russian Prime Minister V.V Putin Conducts a Meeting of State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ Supervisory Board.

V.V Putin’s Opening Address

Good evening Esteemed Colleagues!

We’ve got several important issues on our agenda today. First of all, I would like to dwell on the Bank’s annual performance report for 2008.

This was a difficult period for the Russian credit-financial system and for the economy as a whole. Starting from August, we had to withstand the onslaught of the financial crisis and adapt to operating in the new rather severe conditions.

I would like to note that VEB’s team demonstrated a required level of professionalism and the Bank itself operated in a very sustainable and efficient way performing its core activities and acting in the capacity of the Government’s crisis management instrument.

The materials submitted show that despite the crisis, the Bank’s loan portfolio was in excess of 350 billion rubles last year.

The Bank started to finance 21 new projects. They are aimed at developing infrastructure, high-technology sectors, creating new industrial production facilities. They include modernization of railway arteries in Siberia and the Far East; industrial parks were created in Tatarstan and the Kaluga region, high priority was given to the reconstruction of several power generating stations, work was also in progress in the power engineering industry. The Bank started to participate in financing the construction of Olympic facilities in the city of Sochi.

It goes without saying that the Bank will carry on considering applications for new investment projects.

At this meeting we are planning to discuss one of them, this project is aimed at creating engines of new generation at Avtodizel factory.

I’d like to remind you that a principal decision on VEB’s participation in this project was made last December in the course of the working trip to the Yaroslavl region. Here I mean power plants for domestic trucks meeting strict requirements for reliability and ecological standards.

At present, trials of engine prototypes are at their final stage. The Bank’s financing would make it possible to launch their batch production and create more than one thousand and two hundred jobs.

I’d like to mention the Bank’s interesting and promising initiative designed to use foreign investment funds for implementing infrastructure projects.

And in the end we must discuss Vnesheconombank’s efforts to implement the Government’s crisis management measures. In particular, we’ll discuss how the companies that obtained VEB’s credits at the end of 2009 to refinance their loans at foreign financial institutions fulfill their obligations.

The funds made available by VEB made it possible to avoid stripping of Russian companies’ strategic assets pledged abroad. Initially we planned to spend 50 billion dollars for these purposes but actually we had to spend only 10.5 billion dollars, with a part of this sum having been already repaid.

I’d like to say it once more that assistance with refinancing debts is not a gift given by the state to major companies but credits that are to be repaid and serviced properly.