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Eastern Europe
March 15, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
US sanctions Russian Evrofinance bank on Venezuelan ties
bne IntelliNews
Russian Evrofinance Mosnarbank has been sanctioned due to its ties with the Venezuelan state hydrocarbon major PDSVA, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department (USTD) said on March 11 after adding the bank to the SDN List (Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons).
Evrofiance was founded in 1993 and has a branch in Caracas after in 2011 Russia and Venezuela agreed to set up a bi-national financial institution to finance joint projects. The bank is Russia's 78th largest in terms of assets.
Venezuelan Fonden S.A. national development bank holds 49.99% in Evrofiance, while 25% plus one share are held by Russian state banks Gazprombank and VTB Bank and their subsidiaries.
On Wednesday March 6 Evrofiance has stopped the rating coverage with Moody's Investors Service, withdrawing the B1/Not Prime long-term ratings. In October 2018 Bloomberg reported that Venezue- lan authorities encouraged local businesses to use Evrofiance for international transactions.
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Share of salmon in Russia’s aquaculture is set to rise to over a third
bne IntelliNews
The share of salmon in Russia’s aquaculture is set to rise to over a third (37%), according to develop- ment plans for the sector drawn up by the govern- ment, the deputy head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Vasily Sokolov told Tass on March 13.
"We want to change the species structure of aq- uaculture. As you see, we [now] have 65% of carp breeding. A different goal is set in our strategy by 2030, that is, salmons should account for at least 37% [in fish farming], because these are the most valuable and promising targets, from our point of view," Sokolov told the agency.
The official said that other species would also be introduced into the business, particularly whitefish. Fish has been a booming business and has at- tracted the attention of several oligarchs, who have invested in new fish farms.
Russia caught 5mn tonnes of fish in 2018 – a post Soviet record, Sokolov told reporters on November 20. The sturgeon catch in Russia in 2018 reached 675,000 tonnes – an all-time record and the big- gest catch in over 100 years. The fishing business is flourishing as bne IntelliNews profiled in a cover story “Russia’s fishy business” in February 2018.
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