Russian, Turkish funds set new venture to strengthen countries’ ties

Russia and Turkey's sovereign wealth funds are partnering to launch a fund focused on investments that strengthen trade, economic and investment ties between the two countries.

A news release on the website of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Moscow, said it had negotiated the final conditions of its partnership with Turkiye Varlik Fonu, Istanbul, to create the Russia-Turkey Investment Fund.

The agreement will see both RDIF and the Turkish fund contribute $500 million to the new fund. The infrastructure construction, health-care and information technology sectors will be the main focus for investment, said the release.

"Our investment teams have already assessed exciting projects in the field of information technology and health care," said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, in the release. "We have established excellent connections with Turkiye Wealth Fund and hope to announce important joint projects in the near future."

Added Yigit Bulut, board member of Turkish wealth fund: "We are very happy to see the new bridge between Russia and Turkey. I think the world economy is moving to the East and (the) Turkey-Russia line will be one of the new economic power centers of the new world equation. We would like to thank RDIF team for acceleration of this process and for their comprehensive approach to building (a) mutually beneficial partnership with us."

Also on RDIF's website, a separate news release said it had agreed to form a partnership with Turkish construction company MAKYOL to jointly implement infrastructure projects.

The deal will focus on the infrastructure sector including road construction.

RDIF has $10 billion in assets. The Turkish fund has about $40 billion, according to its website.