OREANDA-NEWS. September 08, 2014. Dmitry Patrushev, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Russian Agricultural Bank (RusAg), took part in the Seliger 2014 National Youth Forum, where he met young scientists, teachers and post-graduate students and spoke about stages and factors leading to Russian agribusiness successful development and the role that RusAg plays in this process.

Speaking about the modern history of domestic agribusiness, Dmitry Patrushev recalled that in late 1990s the industry was almost ruined. The situation started to change radically in 2000 when the new Russian government adopted the policy of agribusiness modernization, sustainable rural areas development and ensuring food security. RusAg was established pursuant to an order of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a backbone institution of the agribusiness credit and finance system.

The adopted measures allowed to triple agricultural production since 2006, Russia turned from an importer to one of the leading grain exporters. For instance, the grain crops expected in 2014 will allow Russia to increase export up to 30 million tonnes, which is 2.7 times higher than the export in 2006.

Among the factors contributing to active agricultural production growth Dmitry Patrushev mentioned the consistent position of the country’s authorities regarding the unlocking of a unique natural and climatic potential of Russia, systemic state support extended to agricultural producers, as well as timely and affordable financing to agribusiness provided by RusAg.

Since its establishment, Russian Agricultural Bank has made considerable progress growing to the second largest financial institution in Russia by branch network, the fourth largest by capital (RUB 218 billion) and the fifth largest by assets (RUB 1.8 trillion). In 2014 RusAg debuted at the 7th position in the top world banking brands ranking.