BEIJING, November 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will create an industrial development fund in 2015 to support businesses with large long-term projects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.
"The designing of a mechanism of project financing to support large long-term projects is winding down. Next year, business financing before banks will be done by a new structure [called] the industrial development fund," Putin said during his speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
The fund will start operating in a limited capacity this year. According to Gazeta.ru, the government will invest more than 14 billion rubles into the fund by 2017. This money is set to finance promising industrial projects at a concessional rate of 5 percent per year. One of the fund's priorities will be to support projects in the pre-investment phase. The projects that require government funding will be required to have in-depth scientific and technical expertise, an industrial partner and to be interesting for further financing by banks.
Russia has become more focused on strengthening its industrial production after the West introduced sanctions against a number of the country's largest companies, banks and certain individuals over the country's alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict.
The APEC summit brings together 21 nations in a bid to address global challenges. The main focus of the summit is on the creation of a new Asia-Pacific partnership.
