Russian government-owned development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) and Russia’s largest national operator of electronic trading Unified electronic trading platform (UETP or Roseltorg) signed a cooperation agreement regarding a joint Blockchain-based project. The software developer of the project is Cognitive Technologies group. It is the first project of such type in Russia and Europe.
Within the signed agreement parties will build a transparent environment for electronic transactions between businesses and government customers. On the basis of the UETP’s existing E-document flow system, developers are going to implement the technology of the 100% transparent electronic contract based on Blockchain.
Vnesheconombank plans to use this technology to facilitate aspects of its business such as investments, project monitoring, procurement, electronic contracting and tracing the supply and subcontractor chain.
“The Blockchain technology used as corporate governance and national government tool will help to achieve zero human factor impact, so transactions will become accurate and transparent. It will help us to sensibly reduce the service timeframes, boost the operating efficiency and strengthen the people’s trust with respect to public authorities and financial institutions. The system will be useful not only to the government, but also to business customers. The new mechanism will help businesses interact with their clients and suppliers, improve the document exchange quality, enable stronger data confidentiality and underpin the customers’ confidence in the product suppliers”, noted Sergey Gorkov, Chairman of Vnesheconombank state corporation.
“This technology will enable transparency across all supply chains and will enable interaction between customers and suppliers that will be as smooth as it is when smart contracts are used. Unified electronic trading platform has a well-developed infrastructure and the required technology expertise, so the project outcomes can be scaled up to enhance all other IT systems that will serve as groundwork for building digital economy in Russia”, says UETP’s CEO Anton Emelyanov.
“This Blockchain-network will make the procurement process 100% transparent. Any side of the process will be able to view its entire history from the moment of planning to the moment when the contract is executed. The Blockchain technology is one of the most effective tools against corruption schemes”, says Andrey Chernogorov, CEO of Cognitive Technologies.
Parties of the agreement believe that the Blockchain-based decentralized system will prospectively greatly enhance the interaction between government organization and all other businesses and corporations.
JSC Unified Electronic Trading Platform (JSC UETP, Roseltorg) is the largest national operator of electronic trading for government customers and commercial enterprises in Russia, with overall trading volume of more than 11 trillion rubles. UETP’s clients include more than 300,000 customers and more than 360,000 suppliers. The main area of business is conducting trading procedures for Russia’s regions, largest state corporations and commercial companies. UETP has its own certification center that issues more than 60,000 electronic signatures annually and the Rosinvoice e-document flow system, which is accredited by the Federal Tax Service of Russia).
State corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), a state corporation, provides banking and other financial services in Russia. It funds and supports investment projects and industrial exports through credits, guarantees and sureties, participation in economic entities’ authorized capitals, leasing operations, insurance of export credits, and financial and guarantee support for exports..
Cognitive Technologies is a leading Russian IT corporation that develops corporate business applications (ERP, SRM, EAS), AI-based advanced driver assistance systems (Cognitive Pilot) and software for machine vision.