OREANDA-NEWS. KfW and the Russian state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank, VEB) signed a memorandum of understanding on the occasion of a meeting of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC). It provides for cooperation with Russian municipalities in the modernisation of their social infrastructure. Under the memorandum KfW agrees to provide funds from the International Climate Protection Initiative (IKI) of German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) for climate and energy-efficient modernisation of waste management and sanitation systems as well as urban transport networks in the Russian Federation.

“KfW can draw on many years of experience in municipal finance and in the financing of environmental protection projects in Germany and around the world. This cooperation with Vnesheconombank is an important step in the environmentally friendly modernisation of municipal infrastructure in Russia. It will also contribute to global climate protection, to which the IDFC partner banks are strongly committed”, said Dr Ulrich Schroder, Chairman of the Executive Board of the KfW Group. “In the current global economic environment, state promotional banks must often take the lead in long-term financing operations, particularly in the area of infrastructure, and a core task of our IDFC is to do this together”, Dr Schroder added.

The investment projects are to be supported by tailor-made financing solutions provided by VEB in the form of reduced-interest KfW loans and with the aid of preparatory and complementary consulting measures. The new programme will build on the successful cooperation between the two promotional banks in the modernisation of the waste management system in Saint Petersburg in 2012.