Russian Direct Investment Fund to sign agreement with BRICS partners in Ufa

UFA, July 7 /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund will sign an agreement with BRICS partners on implementation of infrastructure projects in the territory of the group’s member states on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Ufa, presidential adviser Anton Kobyakov told journalists on Tuesday. "The agreement will envisage the creation of a joint mechanism for investing in the authorized capital of infrastructure projects. The sovereign funds of the BRICS states will unite their assets in order to promote infrastructure projects in the BRICS territory," Kobyakov, who is the executive secretary of the Organizing Committee for the preparation of Russia’s presidency over SCO and BRICS, told a briefing held at the summit’s press center that opened in Ufa on Tuesday. According to Kobyakov, the business agenda - including a meeting of the SCO inter-bank council and the BRICS business council as well as the signing of a whole number of commercial agreements - will be a vital element of the SCO and BRICS summits. The agreements to be signed on the sidelines of both summits will include two memorandums between the Rosatom State Corporation for Atomic Energy and the Ministry of Energy of South Africa: on training personnel in the sphere of atomic energy and promotion of atomic energy in South Africa. The SCO and BRICS summits will take place in Ufa on July 8-10. Russia, which is presiding over both organizations in 2015, has decided to combine the two summits for the first time. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent regional association founded in Shanghai, China, on June 15, 2001. Its priority tasks include joint counteraction to terrorism and extremism; cooperation in education as well as in the energy, oil and gas, transport, communication and other spheres. At present, the SCO comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have an observer status while Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka are partners for dialogue. The SCO summit in Ufa is expected to adopt the organization’s comprehensive development programme till 2025 and launch the process of accession of India and Pakistan to the SCO. The BRICS group unites five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa /BRIC before South Africa acceded in 2011/. It was founded in June 2006. Russia took over the BRICS presidency on April 1, 2015. One of its main goals will be to implement agreements on creation of BRICS financial institutions such as the New Development Bank and the Pool of Currency Reserves. The BRICS states cover 26% of the territory of Earth. The group’s total population accounts for 42% of global population. In 2013, the BRICS share in global trade stood at 16.1%. Read more