Bourguignon referred to as very important the fact that the number of economic donors in the world had grown of late. In this connection, apart from Russia, he mentioned China, India, and a number of private-owned foundations.

The WB senior vice-president said Russia had always played an important role in the development of the CIS and that the WB sees the Russian Federation’s direct influence in a number of countries. He emphasized that he was referring primarily to the poorest member-states of the CIS. In particular, he singled out Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in this respect, stressing that a large number of migrants from the two above-mentioned CIS countries currently work in Russia.