The head of Rossotrudnichestvo spoke about plans to create an “USAID analogue” and find funds to “compete” at least with Finland

The Foreign Ministry is developing a draft law on international development to create a format similar to the American International Development Agency (USAID), said the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Evgeny Primakov in an interview with RBC.

“I am not saying that we will compete with USAID, for example, we would compete with Finland, which has our own development agency. The problem is that in order for Russia to make at least some useful thing abroad, which will somehow affect its influence, a separate decree of the government must be issued, ”said Primakov.

According to the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, the agency “is a rudiment”, “old body”, in the current legislative and resource framework, and they must be extended.

“Of this, sorry, we are trying to make the car and that is why now we are going into this story with the assistance of international development and in each budget cycle we ask for additional funding,” Primakov explained.

USAID in the United States supports projects in the fields of democracy, education, healthcare, ecology and humanitarian aid, financing the initiatives of NPOs, the media and local communities in developing countries. After Donald Trump became president of the United States, officials were fired in February in February and closed the agency’s website. In March, Secretary of State Mark Rubio announced the closure of 83% of USAID programs .

On the scale of international assistance. Only in 2023, USAID sent 73 billion dollars to the third countries. No other organization in the world is such a large donor.