OREANDA-NEWS. December 21, 2012. State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ and Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau Bankengruppe (KfW) with the assistance of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) entered into the second commercial agreement under the Pilot Financial Initiative.

Credit facilities under the credit agreement in the amount of up to 65 million US dollars will be provided in the ruble equivalent at a fixed rate. The raised credit facilities are to be used by Vnesheconombank to fund the project aimed at processing mixed household waste of Saint Petersburg. The project is being implemented by OJSC Autopark №1 Spetstrans

This project’s implementation would contribute to environmental protection and improving the ecological situation in Saint Petersburg.

The first commercial credit agreement between Vnesheconombank and KfW under the Pilot Financial Initiative was signed on November 16, 2012 for an amount of 110 million US dollars to build on the Memorandum of Understanding concluded earlier in May of 2012 between the Permanent International Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, KfW and Vnesheconombank.

The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) was established in 1992 in Copenhagen. The Council is comprised of: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Island, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, Sweden as well as the European Commission.

Pilot Financial Initiative (PFI) is a program of financial cooperation initiated by KfW and Vnesheconombank. This program is designed to create an open financial Platform, which is intended to engage financial partners and  raise  financial resources for projects aimed at sustainable economic development and cooperation in the geographic area of CBSS, regional know-how transfer as well as to multiply the effect of CBSS investments and to implement sub-regionally focused programs. The Platform is open to accession of other financial institutions acting in the region of CBSS.