Maxim Merkulov, Managing Director of Russian Development Corporation VEB.RF, participated in Saudi Arabia's international conference on public-private partnership (PPP). The event was organized by the International Sustainable Development Center (ISRC) and the government of the Kingdom.

One of the topics of the conference was support of PPP projects during the pandemic.

During his speech, Merkulov stressed the need to attract long-term financing for the infrastructure market and talked about Russia's experience in providing crisis management support to PPP initiatives.

Nowadays over 3.5 thousand PPP projects are being implemented in our country. The total amount of investment is 70 billion dollars, out of which 50 billion dollars are private investment. The majority of the projects are in the municipal, transport and social sectors.

According to Merkulov, during the pandemic, when both the state and business have to change investment plans, the role of expert support for PPP projects increases in order to ensure their successful implementation and reduce risks throughout their life cycle.

The conference also touched upon prospects for quality infrastructure investment standards and changes in financing terms during the crisis.

The role is particularly important now in terms of economic efficiency, environmental and social impact, said the representative of the VEB. The foundation of a unified methodology in assessing projects was the work of the G20 Infrastructure Working Group. Russian corporation VEB.ru as an agent of the Russian government has begun work on the implementation of principles for assessing quality infrastructure.

In September this year, a draft methodology for the national system of evaluation and certification of infrastructure projects IRIIS was published. The system was developed by both Russian and international specialists.

According to Merkulov, IRIIS will increase the quality of infrastructure projects in our country and make them resistant to various risks, including pandemics. One of the objectives of the system is to increase the transparency of infrastructure projects for international stakeholders in order to attract more investments in the future.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Ksenia Gustova