Russia's Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Turkish contractor Rönesans Holding have agreed to realize a joint project to establish training and research hospitals at universities in different regions of the country.

According to a Rönesans Holding statement, the deal was signed during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official visit to Russia on Monday to attend the 8th High-Level Cooperation Council Meeting.

Within the scope of the project, state-of-the-art medical training and city hospitals will be established, where a single database and a common technology platform will be used to connect to the medical centers of leading Russian universities and foreign universities. This approach brings together the world-class experience and the most advanced applications with the expertise of Rönesans Holding in infrastructure construction, project implementation and support.

The RDIF-Rönesans Holding partnership will ensure installation of high-quality medical units as well as support the renewal of medical equipment, consumables, medical devices and medicines. This cooperation will also lead to the use of new medical equipment, consumables, medical devices and essential medicine in Russia.

"Thanks to the successful partnership between RDIF and Rönesans Holding, we are able to launch a new large-scale project in which we are planning to establish 15 training and research hospitals in Russian universities," RDIF's CEO Kirill Dmitriev said. "With this project, the quality of medical training at the academic level will be increased, high-level scientific achievements in the fields of biomedical and digital technology will be utilized and targets set in national projects called ‘Science' and ‘Health' will be realized."

Rönesans Holding Chairman Erman Ilıcak said that all cooperation between RDIF and Rönesans is of strategic importance for Russia and Turkey.

Noting that Rönesans has taken part in many important projects in Russia, Ilıcak said they have reached approximately $1.3 billion in real estate investments in Russia to date, recalling that they have been cooperating with Russia's investment fund since 2017 in different scopes. "Today, we are taking the first steps for 15 training and research hospitals to be built in different parts of Russia," he added.

"With this project, we will carry the experience Rönesans has gained in the health care, medical construction and medical enterprises in Turkey to Russia. As a company with contracting experience in 28 different countries, we believe we will make an important contribution to shaping this project according to the needs of Russia with our know-how formed around advanced technology in healthcare."

Rönesans is the contractor for city hospitals in Adana, Yozgat, Bursa, Elazığ and Istanbul's İkitelli district. The group has a diverse portfolio in Russia, including the construction of energy infrastructure, stadiums, housing development projects and shopping malls.