OREANDA-NEWS. March 09, 2011. An International Conference of Vnesheconombank’s Subsidiary Banks “Topical Issues of Trade-Economic and Interbank Cooperation between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine” was held in the city of Minsk (the Republic of Belarus).

In attendance of the Conference were heads of Vnesheconombank’s subsidiary banks: Belvnesheconombank, Roseximbank, Prominvestbank (Ukraine), the Russian Development Bank, Svyaz-Bank, Bank Globex, representatives of Belarusian government authorities, the diplomatic corps and more than 40 Belarusian enterprises operating effectively on Russia’s and Ukraine’s markets.

Management Board Member, Vnesheconombank Deputy Chairman, Belvnesheconomank’s Supervisory Board Chairman Petr Fradkov: the Conference of Vnesheconombank’s subsidiary banks is for the first time attended by representatives of the Belarusian real economy. This fact is very important because of Vnesheconombank Group of Banks’ strategic objectives to substantially speed up integration processes in the economies of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Top priorities of Vnesheconombank’s Group of Banks are to secure funding for and servicing of investment projects on these countries’ territories and open up new opportunities for finding new potential fields of investment activity. The Conference focused on practical aspects.

As part of promoting interbank cooperation between the countries the Conference’s participants considered issues of financing:
Trading houses and other companies of the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian commodity-producing network in these companies’ countries of residence;
Procurements of products manufactured by Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian companies, which are customers of Vnesheconombank’s subsidiary banks, (advance payments against import contracts and other forms of financing including the use of new financial instruments);
Investment projects in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine including regional development of distribution networks.

In its presentations OJSC Svyaz-Bank’s delegation focused on the concrete results of its bilateral cooperation with Belvnesheconombank. For example, a credit line worth 50 million dollars was opened for Belvnesheconombank to finance Belarusian companies operating in the real economy.

Moreover, being one of the most active participants in the Russian investment services market, Svyaz-Bank is an arranger of a syndicated loan worth 50 million US dollars for Belvnesheconombank and it intends to be Belvnesheconombank’s main partner in transactions on raising financial resources on capital markets. Many Belarusian companies whose representatives participated in the Conference showed great interest in Svyaz-Bank’s credit and investment products.

In the course of the Conference Belvnesheconombank and GLOBEXBANK signed a Memorandum on Cooperation between the two banks in financing export-import operations between Belarusian and Russian companies, providing credit support for distribution networks of their customers in the two countries, conducting treasury and documentary operations, making arrangements for the placement of debt instruments, providing other banking services.

The Russian Development Bank made a presentation of its program of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises being implemented in Russia. The program generated an interest from the Belarusian Government. The participants noted that this program’s experience could be used in Belarus. In the course of the Conference it was stressed that the Belarusian side has achieved good results in expanding its cooperation with Vnesheconombank’s subsidiary banks. Only for the last several years Belvnesheconombank has raised more than 700 million dollars for the Belarusian economy. The funds were provided by Vnesheconombank in the form of contributions to the bank’s charter capital and subordinated and interbank credits. Belvnesheconombank used these funds to support and implement investment projects in Belarus.

The participants adopted a Declaration of the Conference.