Russia, China Create Joint Agro-Industrial Development Fund

Moscow and Beijing on Thursday created the Sino-Russian Fund for Agro-Industrial Development (RCFAD) with the initial capital of 13 billion rubles ($182 million), the Far East Development Fund (FEDF) said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The agreement on the establishment of the fund was signed between the heads of the FEDF and the Asia-Pacific Food Fund.

"The initial capital of the Fund will amount to a total 13 billion rubles, of them the investment of the Far East Development Fund will total 1.3 billion rubles, and the investment of Asia-Pacific Food Fund will total 11.7 billion rubles," the FEDF said in a press release.

The statement said that the key goal of the Fund would be to develop a range of export-oriented agricultural projects in the Far East, with an involvement of long-term funding from the agro-industrial complex.

The statement said that the Fund will support prospective agricultural projects in the Far East, mainly those in the spheres of production, processing and realization of agrarian production.

Moscow began boosting cooperation with Beijing in the wake of several rounds of sanctions introduced by the United States and the European Union against Russia over Ukraine crisis, and amid geopolitical tensions, in 2014.

Russia and China are currently cooperating in a number of areas, including energy, infrastructure, finance, space and agriculture.