OREANDA-NEWS. April 04, 2011. In the course of visit of Vnesheconombank delegation to London Sergey Krjukov, Chairman of the Board of RBD took part in a serious of meetings with representatives of British business circles and governmental authorities dedicated to Russian-British partnership and exchange of experience in the area of SME support, reported the press-centre of RBD.   

At the meeting in the Ministry for Business and Innovations Sergey Krjukov pointed out: “Small and medium business plays an increasingly significant role in the economic development of Russia multiplying its contribution in diversification and renovation of the economy and operating not only in conventional industries but  also in hi-tech areas. SMEs facilitate active development and introduction of new products, processes and technologies thus improving the competitiveness of the national economy”.

Then we had talks with the representatives of Capital for Enterprise Limited, Barclays Bank, Citigroup, EBRD and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A business meeting “Small and Medium Business. Potential for Russian-British Cooperation” was held jointly with the Ministry of Trade and Investments of Great Britain. The speech of the RBD CEO dealt with the practice of SME lending in Russia via governmental SME lending support programs. In his report S. Krjukov said that the key mission of RBD is development of uncommercial and innovative SMEs with the view to improve competitiveness of the Russian economy and to modernize it in general. The SME support programs are implemented via the RBD’s partners; among them are banks, leasing and factoring companies and micro-finance organizations.