OREANDA-NEWS. The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), as the Resources Manager of the EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund (ACF), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a framework agreement on the joint financing of investment projects.

The agreement envisages the provision of joint finance for projects in the countries that are members of both EDB and the ADB — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The document sets the approximate volume of possible co-financing for the coming three years: up to USD 715 million on the part of the ACF and up to USD 1.2 billion on the part of the ADB.

This agreement is a framework arrangement and not a commitment to finance certain projects. Decisions to engage in projects and provide finance will be made based on the internal procedures of the ACF and ADB. According to the agreement, the parties will propose each other projects for co-financing and the ADB will ensure their pre-investment preparation.

"In the agreement signed EDB acts as the ACF Resources Manager, since it envisages, in the first place, the co-financing of long-term infrastructure projects in low-income countries which need „long money“ with a high level of preferential terms," says Sergei Shatalov. Among joint projects that are close to fulfilment, he mentioned the participation of EDB and the ADB in the reconstruction of the Bishkek-Osh highway in Kyrgyzstan — the most important route that links the northern and southern parts of the country — and the construction of a motor road corridor in Armenia, which will include the country’s southern mountainous regions in the national transport network.

According to the preliminary applications received for these projects from the ministries of finance of Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, the ACF’s participation in these initiatives can reach USD 50 and 100 million respectively.

In addition, EDB is considering a possibility of the joint participation with the ADB in projects concerning energy and small and mid-sized enterprises.