DUSHANBE, July 1, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) plans to double investments in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The source says the decision to increase investments in Tajikistan was made at a regular session of the EDB Council in Moscow on June 28.
Its participants included Alexei Kudrin, Chairman of the EDB Council also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, and the members of the Council from the EDB member states: Bolat Zhamishev, Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan; Vache Gabrielyan, Minister of Finance of Armenia; Sergey Rumas, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus; and Safarali Najimiddinov, Minister of Finance of Tajikistan.
According to report posted on EDB’s website, the Council discussed the Bank’s future performance and development strategy and made a number of important decisions. The Council, in particular, reviewed and approved the EDB Executive Board’s annual report and the Bank’s annual balance sheet and income statement for 2010, subject to Deloitte’s auditor’s opinion. It also approved the Executive Board’s proposal on the distribution of the Bank’s income for 2010 and formation of a reserve fund. The participants also adopted, in general, the EDB development plan for 2011-2013.
“The year 2010 was another year of success for the Bank. We have significantly strengthened our positions in the region and enhanced our investment portfolio with new important projects,” said Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Executive Board. “The EDB investment portfolio, as one of the main indicators of the Bank’s activities, exceeded US $2.2 billion at the end of 2010, an increase of more than US $887.2 million or 67.1% over the reporting period. The EDB’s year-end total assets exceeded US $2.5 billion and net profit for the year grew to US $15.8 million.”
The EDB Council also unanimously approved joining Kyrgyzstan as a new member of the Bank.
Two EDB-sponsored projects are currently being implemented in Tajikistan. One of these projects was aimed at construction of spinning mill, CJSC Olim-Textiles, in Mastchoh district, Sughd province. A total cost of the project is 22.57 million U.S. dollars. Under the second project, EDB provided a US$3 million loan to Tajik commercial bank, Tajprombank, at 18 percent annual interest.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution, a sub-regional development bank, founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The EDB charter capital exceeds US$1.5 billion, it is formed of contributions by its member states: Russia (US$1 billion), Kazakhstan (US$500 million), Armenia (US$100,000), Tajikistan (US500,000) and Belarus (US15 million). The charter capital may be increased by resolution of the Bank’s Council.
