OREANDA-NEWS. State corporation “Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)” hosted the 5rd Meeting of the Russian-British Joint Liaison Group to establish the Moscow International Financial Centre.

The British delegation was headed by Roger Gifford, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The leader of the Russian delegation was Alexander Voloshin, Chairman of the MIFC Taskforce. Vnesheconombank was represented by Deputy Chairmen of Vnesheconombank - Members of the Board Sergey Vasiliev and Alexandr Ivanov. Deputy Co-Chairman of UK-Russia Liaison Group on MIFC, Chairman of the Board of the International Investment Bank Nikolay Kosov participated in the meeting as well.

At the meeting, the parties discussed urgent issues pertaining to the activities of the work streams of the Joint Liaison Group: derivatives market development, securities trading and a wider use of the PPP instruments. The participants also addressed issues of the regulatory and administrative environment (RAE) upgrade; education, training and qualifications (ETQ) of professional market participants.

The meeting emphasized the significant progress of the Russian Federation in areas such as financial infrastructure development and financial market regulation. The development of long-term finance solutions should become a key work direction for the Russian-British Joint Liaison Group in future. Summarizing the results, the parties have agreed to promote on, a regular basis, cooperation in the context of the respective work streams.

The Russian-British Joint Liaison Group was created in June 2011 with the aim to assist the establishment of an International Financial Centre in the Russian Federation. The previous meetings of the Joint Liaison Group took place on 27 June 2011 in Moscow, in Vnesheconombank and on 14 December 2011 in London, in the Residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London. 

On 12 September 2011, during the official visit of David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain, to Russia, in the presence of Dmitry Medvedev, the then  President of the Russian Federation, Vnesheconombank, the MIFC Taskforce and TheCityUK, an independent company, signed Memorandum of Cooperation. The Memorandum provides for broadening opportunities of Russia’s financial and related professional services sector, as well as creating favorable environment for foreign investors. The activity materials of the Joint Liaison Group are regularly used by the MIFC International Advisory Council chaired by the President of the Russian Federation.