Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 23
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) is considering various possibilities for cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the SOFAZ Head Shahmar Movsumov told Trend Feb. 23.
He said the potential investment opportunities are being discussed as part of this cooperation.
"However, there hasn't yet been any final decision regarding the establishment of a joint investment platform," said Movsumov.
SOFAZ invested in the Russian market $540 million, or 1.4 percent of the portfolio in VTB Bank's shares, while $133 million, or 0.4 percent, were invested in the acquisition of the 'Gallery Actor' trade and office center in Moscow.
Earlier, the deputy prime minister of Russia, Arkady Dvorkovich, during a working visit to Baku, said Azerbaijan and Russia agreed to speed up work on a number of documents, including the creation of an investment platform between the RDIF and SOFAZ.
SOFAZ was created in 1999 and its assets were $271 million that time.
As of Jan. 1, 2015, SOFAZ's assets, increasing by 3.42 percent compared to early 2014 ($35,877.5 million), stood at $37,104.1 million.
Under the statute on SOFAZ, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.
SOFAZ's main goals include the accumulation of resources and the placement of the fund's assets abroad to minimize the negative affect on the economy, to prevent the "Dutch disease" to some extent, to promote resource accumulation for future generations and support current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.
RDIF is an investment fund, created to attract foreign investments in the Russian economy. It is capable of investing $10 billion on its own, and the funds attracted from co-investors' should be no less than the fund's share.
Edited by CN
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
