The Russian party signed the Protocol in Moscow on 5 June 2014. The amendments stipulated by the Protocol include the approval of a revised version of the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Investment Bank and its Charter in order to bring them into compliance with current international practices. Thus, the new version of the bank’s constituent documents will replace the current “one country – one voice” voting system with a weighted voting system based on the share in the bank’s contributed capital, which will primarily meet the interests of the Russian Federation.
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The draft federal law On the Ratification of the Protocol on Introducing Amendments to the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Investment Bank and its Charter (hereinafter Draft Law, Protocol) was introduced by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Russian party signed the Protocol in Moscow on 5 June 2014. The International Investment Bank (hereinafter IIB) is a multilateral development bank established in 1970. Its members are Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Russia, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The bank’s authorised capital is 1.3 billion euros, with a contributed amount of 313 million euros. The share of contributed capital from the Russian Federation is 47.92 percent.
The bank was established to facilitate economic growth; to improve the competitiveness of national economies; to expand trade and economic ties and cooperation in investment in order to benefit the member states.
The amendments include the approval of a revised version of the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Investment Bank and its Charter in order to bring them into compliance with current international practices. Thus, the new version of the bank’s constituent documents will replace the current “one country – one voice” voting system with a weighted voting system that is based on the share in the bank’s contributed capital, which will primarily meet the interests of the Russian Federation.
The new documents also introduce the three-level corporate management system in the bank: a board of governors, a board of directors and a management board; the increase of the authorised capital from 1.3 billion euros to 2 billion euros; the introduction of so-called on-demand capital; protection of the minority shareholders during decision making; cancellation of position quotas in the bank and the transit to selecting candidates on a competitive basis, primarily from the IIB member states; the bank’s official languages are declared Russian and English, with Russian to be the language for record keeping.
The IIB will also be relieved from all taxes and fees in Russia, both federal and local (with the exception of fees for concrete services), as well as from customs duties and limitations in imports and exports of goods for the bank’s internal use. The bank’s property and assets located in Russia will be provided with immunity from any form of administrative or judicial interference. The premises of the bank, its branches and representative offices, as well as their archives and documents are declared inviolable.
In accordance with the federal law On International Agreements of the Russian Federation, the Protocol is subject to ratification.
The Draft Law was considered and approved at a Russian Government meeting on 14 September 2016.