Kazakh PM chaired a meeting of Eurasian Development Bank Council
Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin chaired a meeting of the Council of the Eurasian Development Bank at the Astana International Financial Centre, primeminister.kz reported.
The meeting was attended by plenipotentiary representatives of the bank's shareholders: from Armenia — Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, Belarus — Minister of Finance Maksim Ermolovich, Kyrgyzstan — Minister of Economy Sanzhar Mukanbetov, Russia — First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov and Deputy Minister Finance Sergey Storchak, Tajikistan — Minister of Finance Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, Kazakhstan — First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov.
Before the meeting, the official opening ceremony of the Bank’s office in the AIFC was held — EDB became the first development bank, which is located in the Astana International Financial Centre.
“The EDB makes a significant contribution to the development of cooperation between the member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union and the financing of joint projects,” Askar Mamin said.
The meeting discussed the results of the work of the Eurasian Development Bank in 2019 and set targets for 2020. The Council considered the issues of approving large investment projects, implementing digital initiatives and expanding the membership of the Bank.
The EDB investment portfolio as of December 1, 2019 exceeded $4 billion, an increase compared to 2018 amounted to 18% ($621 million). Over the 11 months of this year, 23 new investment projects were signed with a volume of about $1.2 billion, covering the energy sector (27.9%), infrastructure (22.4%), the financial sector (15.0%) and other industries. The country structure of the Bank’s investment portfolio is dominated by projects in Russia (42.8%) and Kazakhstan (42%). Belarus accounts for 11.2%, Armenia for 2.3%, Kyrgyzstan for 1.6%, and Tajikistan for 0.1%.
This year, the EDB launched settlement services for financial institutions —local banks, implementing the concept of "bank for banks" and local exchanges. This December so far has seen 1,134 accounts opened for 40 financial institutions.
Image credit: primeminister.kz
