Mikhail Mishustin and Igor Shuvalov Discuss Development Institutions’ Contribution to National Goals
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has met with VEB.RF’s Chairman Igor Shuvalov.
The meeting focused on the reform of the Supervisory Board of the State Development Corporation. It will be headed by Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Staff. The Supervisory Board will also include First Deputy Chief of the Government Staff Valery Sidorenko. The respective order has been signed.
“I hope that such changes will increase the coordination of VEB.RF's activities and allow making swift decisions on important projects supervised by the development institution. This includes taking into account the government's policy aimed at increasing investment in the real economy, infrastructure and promoting exports,” Mikhail Mishustin emphasised.
According to the Prime Minister, the changes are prompted by the federal law, which recently came into effect. This law updated certain powers of VEB.RF’s Supervisory Board, including those related to VEB.RF’s participation in projects that are of high priority significance to the Russian economy.
VEB.RF’s Chairman reported on VEB.RF's current work and future plans, including the development of digital technologies in the urban economy. Special attention was paid to VEB.RF's participation in the Government's work to attract investment in the national projects.
Mikhail Mishustin reminded that the Government is currently formulating the national development goals for the next ten years, which were defined by the President. “We pay utmost importance to this area of business. I expect that VEB.RF will actively join this effort,” the Prime Minister said.
He instructed to create a mechanism to ensure effective coordination of development institutions to achieve the 2030 development goals.
VEB.RF Presents Draft National Infrastructure Project Assessment and Certification System
On September 4, VEB.RF, the National PPP Development Centre and AECOM presented a draft of the National Infrastructure Project Assessment and Certification System to the market. The system is being developed with the support of the Russian Ministry of Finance as part of the integration of the principles of quality infrastructure investment, which were approved by the G20 countries in 2019. The system is developed by Russian and foreign experts.
The system was presented during the strategy online session Quality Investments in Infrastructure: Key Aspects facilitated by Russia Today’s international press centre. The session brought together representatives of the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the State Duma, financiers, infrastructure investors, rating agencies, and Russian and foreign experts.
The system is aimed at improving the quality of infrastructure projects, as well as attracting additional sources of funding. The project was based on similar foreign systems, such as CEEQUAL (UK), Envision (US), and Infrastructure Sustainability (Australia). In addition to environmental and social aspects, the Russian assessment methodology pays full attention to the economic and managerial issues of project implementation.
The system will allow to conduct an independent assessment of the quality of the project and to obtain the appropriate certificate of compliance, which in the future will allow attracting funding on more favourable terms, including from foreign investors. In addition, the system will make it possible to identify the project’s disadvantages from the very beginning, to reduce risks at all stages of its implementation, and to increase the socio-economic efficiency of investments. The system will be useful for all participants of the infrastructure market. Assessment and certification of projects will begin based on the results of the pilot testing of the system and will be voluntary.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov noted that, last June, the G20 leaders approved a framework document that sets out the key principles that should be applied to quality infrastructure investments. Today, there are many more requirements for infrastructure investments and projects. Infrastructure investments should not only meet the specified financial requirements, but also make an additional contribution to the social and environmental development of the country and meet new criteria.
“In recent years, a lot of development banks have been created, including those with Russian participation, each of these banks having a specific investment mandate. The strong capital base of these institutions, plus a certain leverage, allows them to inject billions of dollars to infrastructure development of countries. Those who know how to work in the financial markets already attract money from these institutions and earn money using this model; correct investment shows a good financial result,” Timur Maximov pointed out.
VEB.RF’s Deputy Chairman and Member of the Management Board Svetlana Yachevskaya drew the participants' attention to the fact that the G20 principles on quality infrastructure investment are not a slogan. This is what the international community has come to when analysing the key effects of infrastructure projects on all developed economies. The methodology for assessing infrastructure projects in accordance with these principles, developed by VEB.RF, will be completely voluntary. “It is very important that the market participants themselves show interest in it first of all. Russia needs an influx of investment in infrastructure. To do this, an investor must be confident in a comprehensive assessment of all project risks," Svetlana Yachevskaya noted.
“It is important that the project assessment system is modern and accessible to all market participants, therefore we plan to make it digital, as it was done, for example, in the USA: an online criteria calculator, a single website for supporting project initiators, a database of the best quality projects. In Russia, we plan to implement all of the above using ROSINFRA’s platform,” the National PPP Development Centre’s Director General Pavel Seleznyov said.