World Bank Plans to Office in Vladivostok

By The Moscow Times

June 23, 2014

The World Bank could open a second Russian office on Russky Island in Vladivostok in the Far East, the regional government said Monday.

Alexander Kostenko, first deputy governor of the Primorye region, signed a memorandum of understanding with World Bank officials, a statement on the regional government's website said.

The World Bank's Russia chief, Michal Rutkowski, was quoted in the statement as saying, "the Far East has promising connections with the Asia-Pacific region, and this potential should be utilized."

Vladivostok has been off the World Bank's menu to date because of the bank's policy of housing representative offices in a country's capital city only. But Russia is a "special country," Rutkowski said, and the bank is considering establishing a small office in the Primorye region, which is almost 6,500 kilometers east of Moscow as the crow flies.

Kostenko, meanwhile, pledged the assistance of the local government in setting up the office.

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