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EBRD board to Kazakhstan & Tajikistan
Directors from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are
beginning a week-long visit to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. They are meeting
senior government officials, business leaders of the respective countries,
investors, as well as representatives of the international and diplomatic
community and civil society.
The EBRD's board of directors represents the Bank's 62 public shareholders,
rather than its executive arm, and approves all Bank projects. The goal of the
visit is to learn more about the state of reforms and transition in the region
as the Bank prepares its new two-year strategy for Tajikistan, due in October.
The Bank’s strategy for Kazakhstan is based on the belief that the country’s
long-term challenge is to diversify its economy to become less vulnerable to
fluctuations in oil prices. The EBRD’s operations in Kazakhstan are therefore
focused on building earning assets in the private sector and the development
of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. There are also
well-established and effective relationships between the Bank and the
government for financings in the transport and municipal areas. Total EBRD
investment in Kazakhstan exceeds €1.1 billion. In Kazakhstan the seven
directors will meet, among others, Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov, as well as
the mayor of Astana.
In Tajikistan, the Bank is stepping up involvement in the wake of its 2004
Early Transition Countries initiative, which aims to stimulate market activity
in the Bank’s seven lowest-income countries of operations by using a
streamlined approach to financing more and smaller projects. The EBRD signed
seven projects in Tajikistan in 2004, mainly focussed on the banking sector to
foster microfinance on-lending to the private sector, representing a total of
$10.3 million. Cumulative investments stand at $59 million. In Tajikistan, the
EBRD board members will meet President Rakhmonov, and amongst other officials,
the Minister of Energy and the governor of the National Bank.
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