International Finance Corporation Will Be More Active In Russia

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank engaged in support of private business in Russia, is going to boost its activities in the Russian Federation, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko who met Thursday with the IFC managing director Peter Woicke. Khristenko said that they had discussed the results of the IFC delegation's 10-day visit to Russian regions. Woicke visited a number of facilities in St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod (Central Russia), Krasnoyarsk (Siberia), showing interest in all spheres of the Russian economy - from coal and oil to food and processing industries. In addition, the IFC managing director had several meetings with Russian banks' top managers. "Russia is of main priority for the IFC, and they plan to increase their presence in Russia, both financial and organizational," Khristenko said. He also mentioned that during Woicke's Russia trip the IFC had struck deals with two Russian banks concerning small and medium business crediting. Khristenko also said that they had discussed support for a number of IFC projects in Russia, which are already being realized with foreign investors participating - in particular, assembly of Ford Focus in St Petersburg and the work of the IKEA store in Moscow. Currently the parties are discussing manufacturing of separate units for Ford Focus and basic parts of IKEA furniture at Russian factories.