Minister of Industry and Agro-Industrial Complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission Artak Kamalyan held a large-scale meeting with business representatives of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union in the format of an open presentation at the site of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Considering that the mechanism of financial support for industrial cooperation in the EAEU has been developed and is being implemented for the first time, a large number of topical questions on the topic of launching the program have been received from potential participants in new production chains.
Representatives of the business community were interested, in particular, how work with enterprises on the implementation of the new mechanism would be organized, what kind of advisory assistance would be provided to businesses, what risks might arise during the implementation of the program.
“Our main goal is to subsidize projects that are of a cooperative nature,” Artak Kamalyan said. “We want to be sure that financing cooperation will really increase the effectiveness of integration ties in industry.”
Business issues related to the criteria for selecting projects, supporting the demand for jointly produced products, and the possibility of refinancing projects already underway. The meeting participants discussed in detail the organization of work on the selection and approval of initiative proposals regarding the creation of an expert group to review applications, the list of financial organizations allowed to participate in the subsidy mechanism, the possibilities of the Commission to search for projects and partners, as well as scaling up the subsidy program in the foreseeable future in terms of increasing funding and expanding support sectors.
Answering the questions of entrepreneurs, the EEC Minister explained that along with enterprises already operating, newly created enterprises established with the participation of three countries can also become recipients of preferential loans – these are new cooperative projects.
“It is extremely important for us that business feels that a real opportunity has been created in the EAEU to establish cooperation chains using the potential of industrial complexes of all our countries,” the EEC Minister said.
At the end of the meeting, Artak Kamalyan assured entrepreneurs that the industrial unit of the Commission is ready to continue to provide all possible assistance and advisory support in the practical implementation of the mechanism for financial assistance to multilateral projects.
The event was held in a hybrid format, including the connection of speakers from the EAEU countries through the organization of TV bridges and online broadcasting
The event was attended by representatives of regional authorities of the Russian Federation, Chambers of commerce and Industry of the EAEU, financial and development institutions of the Union countries, factories and enterprises, industry associations of the Union countries.
The Eurasian Economic Commission received new powers to subsidize part of the interest rates on loans for multilateral integration projects in industry from the budget of the Union as a result of amendments to the Treaty on the EAEU, agreed by the heads of the member states at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on May 25 this year. Amendments to the EAEU Treaty regarding the granting of new powers to the EEC will enter into force after their ratification by the States of the Union.
On October 26, 2023, the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council approved the Regulation on the selection of joint cooperation projects in Industries and the provision of financial assistance in their implementation by the member States of the Eurasian Economic Union.
A source: eaeunion.org
