MOSCOW, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Russia's economy ministry has proposed that the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) help finance five projects in Russia worth almost $12 billion, the Vedomosti daily reported on Tuesday, citing a ministry representative.
The largest of the five projects is the Russian part of a highway running from China to Europe, Vedomosti said, whose cost was estimated at $10 billion.
The Beijing-based AIIB began operations in 2016 and has spent around $25 billion on projects.
Russian state development bank VEB and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) have already said they intend to participate, Vedomosti reported, and the ministry is looking for additional sources of financing for the projects.
Majority-owned by Russia and Kazakhstan and also present in Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the EDB carries out project financing in infrastructure and industrial projects as well as transport and energy fields.
"We have compiled a list of possible projects for financing," a representative of Vladimir Ilichev, deputy minister of economic development, told Vedomosti. "Most of them are being discussed within the framework of intergovernmental commissions.
"We plan to work on this agenda with other agencies and regions, regularly exchanging information about potential projects with the AIIB." (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
