VTB is ready to support the import of Russian vaccines by North African countries

“One of the important issues mentioned by Mr. Minister (Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the UAE Thani bin Ahmed Al Zayudi. - Ed.) is the early vaccination against COVID-2019. We see that the countries of North Africa, together with their Russian partners, are already moving in this direction. We, as a financial institution that lends and gives money for development, are ready to consider financing the purchase of Russian vaccines, as well as financing the construction of the production of such vaccines abroad with the support of export credit agencies. We believe in this and are ready to support our friends in the countries of North Africa,” said Artem Kulik, HEAD of the Directorate for International Companies, VTB Senior Vice President, during the Russia-Islamic World: KazanSummit 2021 summit.

VTB Bank is already working with a number of credit institutions in North Africa as part of interbank cooperation. These are two main areas: establishing a settlement infrastructure (opening Loro and Nostro accounts, including in national currencies, which is now a rather critical aspect), as well as documentary operations and trade finance transactions: issuing letters of credit, guarantees for importers and exporters of various products .

“VTB Bank's portfolio of trade finance transactions in energy, engineering and some other industries exceeds half a billion dollars. Basically, these are deals to support Russian exports. We are also involved in operations to finance grain exports to North African countries such as Egypt. We have already discounted and confirmed letters of credit worth more than $100 million,” Artem Kulik said.