OREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2011. State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ and the European Investment Bank (the EIB) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding.

On behalf of Vnesheconombank the Memorandum was signed by Management Board Member – Vnesheconombank Deputy Chairman Petr Fradkov, on behalf of the European Investment Bank – by its Vice President Eva Shrejber.

This Memorandum aims to promote mutually beneficial cooperation under the Partnership for Modernization Initiative. The Initiative was launched by the European Union and the Russian Federation at the May 2010 summit.

Under the Memorandum the financial institutions are determined to work together on projects to be implemented jointly by European and Russian companies in Russia under the Partnership. The parties believe that 500 million euros might be provided by each party to this end in the case that potential projects are in line with Vnesheconombank’s and the EIB’s financial criteria and are approved by authorized corporate governance bodies.

The parties are to give top priority to projects in the following sectors:
energy efficiency including efficient power generation and distribution, increased power generation rate and increased power generation security, more efficient power transmission and power distribution, introduction of energy saving technologies;
environment protection: implementing projects designed to protect environment including associated petroleum gas and methane utilization, carbon dioxide fixation and storage, increased quality of water resources, waste treatment;
transport: promoting transport integration through developing a high-speed transport network Russia-the EU including under the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics, developing multimodal transportation, railway systems, introducing intelligent transport systems and increased road safety;
telecommunications: implementing projects having cross-border effect and contributing to regional integration including the ones that provide for upgrading communications systems and prompting 3G standards, developing broadband access to the Internet, introducing new technologies;
projects related to European companies’ direct investments in Russia.