Russia to offer BRICS countries "road map" for New Development Bank - First Deputy Economic Development Minister Likhachev

MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Russia will offer BRICS partners "road map" for financing projects from the New Development Bank (NDB), First Deputy Economic Development Minister Alexei Likhachev said in an interview with TASS. This "road map", according to him, is closely linked with the project of the Strategy of economic cooperation, which was in the works of Russia and its BRICS partners since 2013. "We believe that the strategy will be adopted this week in Ufa as a medium-term program of action," Likhachev said. The strategy identifies priority areas of BRICS cooperation - in such sectors as power, manufacturing, mining, agribusiness, and innovative technologies. These priority spheres develop in the "road map" in a form of multilateral projects of major companies - for example Rosneft or Inter RAO - and medium-sized companies, Likhachev said. Currently more than several dozens of projects of Russian companies participate in it. "We hope that our BRICS partners will actively add multilateral co-operation projects in the key sectors that are identified in the strategy," Likhachev said. Answering the question whether this means that the BRICS NDB will finance only these projects, Likhachev said, "The Bank’s management and its board of Gopvernors will have the last word in this matter. For our part, we will actively propose to review projects from the "road map" as a matter of priority. But the Bank can make its own decisions." Read more