OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture signed a cooperation agreement within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The agreement was signed by Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, and Alexander Tkachyov, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

The agreement is aimed at the implementation of activities within the Government Agriculture Development Program and the regulation of the agricultural, raw material and food products markets from 2013 to 2020, as well as the development of the financial credit system for the agricultural sector; the implementation of project financing and the provision of other financial services in the area of governmental support for import substitution in the agricultural goods and products markets.

As a part of the agreement, Sberbank will provide loans to agricultural producers in the sectors defined by the Governmental Program, and also develop special credit programs connected to the implementation of the measures of the program to support agricultural producers.

"Thanks to the agreement, the cooperation between Sberbank and the Ministry of Agriculture will become even closer and more productive. As a result, one of the most important sectors for the country will receive new momentum for development", Herman Gref said.

"Current government support of Russian agriculture can be described as unprecedented. The pace of development of domestic agriculture is directly connected with access to credit resources, diversity of financial instruments, and the processing of agricultural producers' applications as quickly as possible. The signing of this agreement is another step towards this aim", Alexander Tkachyov stated.