The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Fondo Strategico Italiano (FSI) has signed a memorandum to establish a EUR1bn Russian-Italian investment platform.
The signing ceremony took place in Trieste in presence of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin (pictured) and the Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Letta.
The two financial institutions will invest up to EUR500m each primarily in companies and projects promoting the development of foreign trade and FDI between Italy and Russia.
Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of RDIF, says: “The Russian-Italian investment platform has the significant potential to stimulate mutual trade and investment cooperation between Russia and Italy. Today there are 500 companies with Italian capital in Russia – 70 of them have established local production facilities. I’m sure we will see many more of such joint investment projects in both countries soon.”
Maurizio Tamagnini, CEO of FSI, says: “Fondo Strategico Italiano and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have a lot in common. Like RDIF we were formed only two years ago and our key investment priorities include encouraging FDI and financing market based investments important to our home countries. We seek potential joint investments in sectors such as food, engineering, machinery and other technology-based industries. We look forward to deploying our collective knowledge and expertise to further boost the economic cooperation between Italy and Russia.”
