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Turkmen bank joins EBRD's trade programme
The EBRD is extending its Trade Facilitation Programme to a Turkmen bank,
Senagat, with a guarantee facility of up to $500,000. The line will be used
exclusively to support private-sector transactions. Senagat is the first
Turkmen bank in the Trade Facilitation Programme. Senagat focuses on the
private sector and is among the most active partners of the EBRD under its SME
development programme in Turkmenistan.
The deal is part of the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme, initiated in 1999
to support trade to, from and within the Bank’s 27 countries of operations.
The EBRD guarantees payment obligations of local issuing banks to their
Western confirming counterparts in respect of trade-finance instruments. With
the signing of Senagat in Turkmenistan, all the EBRD’s countries of operations
requiring trade finance support are now represented in the programme.
TFP enables trade which otherwise could not be realised. Examples are the
export of Lithuanian butter to Uzbekistan, the sale of Italian pasta-making
equipment to Siberia and the delivery of wheat from Kazakhstan to Madeira.
Most transactions are between small and medium-sized enterprises, enhancing
job creation and inter-regional cooperation.
In 2003, the programme had its best year so far, with business volume growing
by 26 per cent to €467 million. More than 80 issuing banks in the EBRD’s
countries of operations participate in the programme, with limits exceeding
€600 million, while more than 500 confirming banks have joined TFP worldwide.
Under TFP, training is provided to member banks to enhance trade finance
skills. The EBRD has organised training courses financed by the governments of
Austria, France and Ireland for more than 300 bankers from 65 banks in 15
countries. With support of the government of Switzerland, a similar training
was conducted for over 20 bankers representing almost the entire banking
sector of Turkmenistan in April 2004.
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