Izvestia: “ASI attracts private investors”
The ASI general director has told Vladimir Putin about the agency's new projects.
The leader of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives has reported to Vladimir Putin on how work was progressing on new upcoming projects. Since the last meeting of the ASI Supervisory Council, only a few new projects have been introduced. Ten projects will be submitted to the council in addition to the 24 already approved, ASI director general, Andrei Nikitin, told Mr Putin, adding that private banks will be financing the agency's projects.
Mr Nikitin also reported on the only project to enter the implementation stage: the modernisation of the Izhevsk Engineering Plant aimed at launching a production line for electric tools. In fact, the prime minister had already ensured support for the plant even before the agency was established.
Mr Putin was especially interested in ASI's work with entrepreneurs. He asked Mr Nikitin when the first meeting of the so-called Leaders' Club to unite medium-sized businesses from all over the country would take place. Mr Nikitin promised that the club will invite its first participants in late 2011 – early 2012. "I think about 100 people will attend the function – we will be selecting them from around 400 candidates. They have already passed the preliminary selection stage. These are the finalists of the competition," Mr Nikitin said.
The competition involves selecting the people to lead ASI, which the government launched before the agency opened. Initiators of the projects selected by the agency will also stand as candidates. "What they have to consider when implementing their projects, is how the projects will benefit their country, and not just their profit margins," Mr Nikitin said. The agency receives about 40 projects every week, with some 70 of them having already met the ASI criteria. Just over half of these have been approved by the Expert Council.
Mr Nikitin also talked about some of the agency's most ambitious ideas . However, not all of them were new. For example, the ASI general director proudly announced a project to open private kindergartens and modernise state ones. The modernisation of one kindergarten in Yekaterinburg is already underway. However, Mr Nikitin did not explain why he considered that an innovative idea.
ASI's main problem is that it is still not clear how the agency will support the selected projects. Currently ASI's directors are looking for both state and private investors. One of the directors, Artyom Avetisyan, told Izvestia that they have recently signed a contract with Raiffeisenbank.
"This is a great example showing that not only state banks are signing agreements with us, but that the largest western financial institutions are also willing to cooperate," Mr Avetisyan said. "We will show them the projects that are still in the credit financing stage. And those entrepreneurs who come to them with specific problems regarding administrative barriers will be forwarded on to us ."
The prime minister's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told Izvestia that there would be no universal support mechanism for the ASI projects. "Not all initiatives require financing; some of them need administrative or technical support, so individual solutions will be developed for each initiative. They will each be considered on a case-by-case basis ," Mr Peskov said.
RIA Novosti
Anastasiya Novikova, Alexandra Bayazitova
