OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2011. Toyota Tsusho Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Toyota Tsusho", Headquarters: Nagoya City; President: Jun Karube) and an investment fund intended for nurturing leading edge technologies, Open Joint Stock Company "RUSNANO" (hereinafter referred to as "Rusnano"), concluded a memorandum to start exploring ways to cooperate mutually in the electrical and electronic, organic and inorganic chemicals, environment and automotive fields.

Rusnano is a state operated investment fund established in 2007 with the intention of nurturing various high-tech industries, principally the nanotech industry in Russia. Rusnano is an organization that plays a role in implementing the policies of the Russian Government, which has been seeking to move the nation out of an economy that has a disproportionate emphasis on resources and has made a total of 49 leading edge industry related investments amounting to USD 2.1 billion (as of the end February 2011), to businesses in a wide range of industrial fields including solar energy, lithium-ion battery and nano electronics, as well as medical, biotechnology fields.

Toyota Tsusho implemented a car dealership business in Russia in 1991 and it has become a pillar as a revenue base there. A decision was made to consider ways to mutually collaborate with Rusnano, in order to further strengthen businesses in fields other than automotive.

Toyota Tsusho seeks to create new businesses in the future by utilizing the knowledge and investment know-how of Rusnano in leading edge fields, in addition to the company's own network that has been nurtured in the automotive field.