Ufa (Russia), July 8 (IANS): The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its partners in the BRICS member-states to work with sovereign funds, with the Brics bank and invest in the equity of infrastructure projects, RDIF Director General Kirill Dmitriev said at the BRICS Business Council meeting in Ufa.

"We have signed an MoU with five funds from our five countries: the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Silk Road Fund from China, the IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company) from India, the Development Bank of South Africa and the Brazil BTG Pactual fund," he said

Dmitriev said the funds are forming together the Infrastructure Fund Initiative (IFI) to work with sovereign funds, with the BRICS bank and invest in the equity of infrastructure projects, TASS news agency reported on Wednesday.

"The BRICS bank will be doing a lot of debt providing, while the IFI will be investing in equity."

The initiative is already seeing practical negotiations on specific projects, Dmitriev added, highlighting cooperation with China and India.

"With the IDFC in India, we discussed projects in hydrogeneration where Russia has a lot of expertise," he said.