BSTDB President Pankin headed Bank’s delegation to St.Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF)
News | 07-Jun-2021
SPIEF was held on 2-5 June 2021 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The annual Forum is a major platform for constructive dialogue among Russian and international business communities aimed at building mutual understanding and a basis for joint action. This year SPIEF attracted thirteen thousand participants from 140 countries.
Dmitry Pankin contributed to a round table discussion titled “Multilateral Development Banks: old challenges, new opportunities” hosted by the Ministry of Finance of Russia and attended by senior representatives of World Bank, AIIB, NDB, EADB, IBEC, VEB.RF, and VTB. The discussion focused on a new role of development banks and ways to respond to modern challenges, and a need for closer coordination and interaction. Moderator Pavel Snisorenko, Director for International Financial Relations of Russia’s Finance Ministry stressed that «given an unlimited need for development financing, every dollar invested in the capitals of development banks shall be used with maximum efficiency for development purposes”.
Dmitry Pankin noted that “finding long and cheap money is no longer a problem, and this is a challenge for development banks. Under the new circumstances, the focus is shifting to project preparation and here MDBs have the required competences to offer the necessary expertise on the risks involved, attract competent experts, structure projects and choose the right insurance plan and provide legal support. Our idea is to properly prepare and launch development projects and then to sell them to other investors, instead of keeping them in the portfolio until maturity. This way we should be able to increase the Bank’s business activity, given a limited capital increase”.
The participants shared an opinion that the pandemic accelerated the implementation of ESG agenda by the development banks and inspired greater attention to human capital development.
Dmitry Pankin has also contributed to a discussion on “How to increase exports’ efficiency?” hosted by the Russian Export Centre. In particular, the panelists exchanged views on the multicurrency payment system, which is gaining momentum. “There are many factors working in favor of the increasing share of payments in national currencies. One of those is a decreasing demand for USD and EUR loans from borrowers with incomes in national currencies” – said Dmitry Pankin.
