The foreign media review from 03.02.2016 to 06.02.2016 on the subject of Russian investments abroad.
A “Rosatom” representative has talked about the Indian “Kudankulam” project
On February, 5 The Hindu website published an interview with Evgeni Griva, Director General of Rosatom South Asia, under the title “Rosatom is now actively expanding its global footprint”. The main topic was the cooperation between the two countries in the field of power unit construction for a nuclear power plant in India, which includes the “Kudankulam” platform.
It involves the construction of six power units with VVER-1000 reactors.
The first unit, commissioned in autumn 2013, meets the latest safety requirements. “This is the world's first nuclear power plant to have implemented and successfully operated "post-Fukushima" heightened security measures”, emphasized Mr Griva.
As for the second power unit, its assembly has been finished and the Indian party has scheduled the launch for mid-2016. At the same time, the Indian party has already been provided with the technical and commercial documentation for the installation of Kudankulam power units 5 and 6.
Besides the Kudankulam project, Russia and India are considering the possibility of building of a number of other nuclear plants.
“Rosatom is now planning to increase its foreign order portfolio up to USD 190 billion”, explained Evgeni Griva to The Hindu.
“Rosnano” will cooperate with the biggest investor in India’s infrastructure
Indian Live Mint reported on February 3rd that the Russian “Rosnano” and the Indian National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) have signed a memorandum to establish a fund for the financing of high-tech projects in India.
To remind you, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, set up in December of the previous year, invests in greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects.
“NIIF will be a major investor in infrastructure over the coming months”, the economic affairs secretary, Shaktikanta Das, noted.
Nicaragua and Russia have discussed the participation of Russian companies in Managua airport’s modernization
The Nicaraguan El Nuevo Diario reported on February 3rd on the visit to Russia by the Nicaraguan governmental delegation headed by the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Luis Molina Cuadra.
“We continued discussion of Russian wheat purchases and the modernization of the Nicaraguan airport infrastructure with the assistance of the Russian Federation and with Russian companies’ involvement in the construction” commented a coordinator on the Council for Communication and Citizenship, Rosario Murillo.
Moreover, the delegation discussed the financing of the construction in Nicaragua of a plant producing vaccines and serums for Central American countries with the Russian Minister of Health, Veronika Skvortsova,.
Not everyone is pleased with the outlook of Russian investments in Swiss Gotland
Sputniknews.com published, on February 6th, extracts from the article in the Swiss “Svenska Dagbladet” paper by Hain Rebas. He called on the local authorities of Gotland Island to, “stop flirting with Russia by asking for economic aid” and to “get their priorities straight”.
As reported earlier, the Gotland authorities intend to allow Russia to invest $6m in the development of the island’s infrastructure. This is substantiated by the fact that the Swiss government hasn’t appropriated the necessary funds. Meanwhile, last summer, the Governor of Gotland, Cecilia Schelin-Seidegard, proposed using the island as “a key place to shoot from at invading Russian troops”.
However, the administration was simultaneously carrying out negotiations on the project for constructing an underwater gas pipeline between Kaliningrad and Gotland, which would provide access to cheaper gas.
KAMAZ is coming back to Iran and doesn’t fear competition
The Iranian IRNA agency reported on February 6th that Russia's biggest truck maker, KAMAZ, intends to return this year to the Iranian market, which the company left back in 2010. KAMAZ is planning to launch a truck assembly line in the Islamic Republic by 2017.
“We are entering the Iranian market at quite a difficult time, when competition is tough. Nevertheless, we consider our prospects quite positive, especially since we already worked there before 2010,” said the head of the KAMAZ sales division, Rafail Gafeev. He added that for half a year KAMAZ would get the necessary certification in Europe and Russia.
The Iranian truck market is estimated at 12,000 to 20,000 vehicles per year, while KAMAZ intends to sell 2,500 to 3,000 trucks there. At the beginning, the company is going to deliver fully assembled vehicles, and then it will build its own production operation on Iranian soil.
Review prepared by Tatyana KANUNNIKOVA
