EEC intends to determine criteria for agrobusiness projects for co-financing by autumn, launch first ones from 2027
MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) expects to complete the procedures necessary to launch the mechanism for co-financing cooperative projects in agriculture from the budget of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) by the end of this year, and is already conducting a preliminary selection of applications, EEC Industry and Agriculture Minister Gohar Barseghyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.
For 2026-2027, the EAEU budget will provide around 12 billion rubles for the support of cooperative projects in both industry and agriculture, she said. It was previously reported that the available funds for co-financing in 2026 would be 9 billion rubles.
"As for agriculture, we are now at the stage of preparing the relevant criteria and regulatory framework. I hope that on May 28 [during the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council] the heads of our states, taking into account the completion of all domestic procedures, will be able to sign the amendments to the treaty [on the EAEU] regarding the extension of these support measures to agriculture. And in the autumn we plan to present the main criteria, taking into account the experience of industry, for approval by the heads of our governments," she said.
"According to our calculations, if our member states manage to complete all domestic procedures, the mechanism in agriculture will be launched as early as the beginning of next year," she said.
The EEC has already begun preliminary work with businesses on forming project applications so that, from the moment the co-financing mechanism for agriculture is launched, implementation can begin immediately. "We will work in four areas - seed production, livestock farming, food processing and agricultural logistics," she said.
Regarding support for industrial cooperative projects, for which the co-financing mechanism from the EAEU budget has been in place for two years, Barseghyan said that the project portfolio currently includes 19 project applications, five of which have moved to the implementation stage, and six are at a high degree of readiness.
"According to our calculations, by the end of 2026 we will have approved around 15-16 projects in various industrial sectors," she said.
The mechanism for financial support of industrial cooperation projects was launched in the EAEU in 2024. It assumes that around 10% of the funds received by the union budget from the collection of anti-dumping duties will be directed to subsidizing loans for industrial cooperation and agricultural business projects. The subsidy should cover the cost of the loan in the amount of the key rate of the state in which the project is implemented, while its maximum amount for one project per year cannot exceed the equivalent of 350 million Russian rubles. The maximum interest rate of a bank participating in the mechanism should not exceed the key rate level increased by 6.5%. A mandatory condition for receiving support is the participation of at least three EAEU countries in the project.
