BLACK SEA BANK PLEDGES INCREASED FUNDING FOR ARMENIA

By Atom Markarian

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The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established in 1998 by 11 Black Sea basis countries, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

With an authorized capital of over $1.4 billion, the Bank based in Thessaloniki, Greece, supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing trade and project financing, guarantees, and equity for development projects supporting both public and private enterprises in its member countries.

Despite its significant share of capital in the Bank, Armenia still benefits insignificantly from its projects.
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In 2004 Armenia managed to get credit of only $2 million, which is nearly five times less than the country’s capital in the Bank.
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Black Sea Bank President Mustafa Gurtin, of Turkey, gives a controversial explanation to this.

“We started that experience three years ago. Then we were having real difficulties in finding suitable projects to finance here in Armenia,” he told RFE/RL.
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The BSTDB nevertheless finances one project in Armenia – a $4 million crediting program for small and medium-sized enterprises realized jointly with the Izmirlian Foundation.
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Gurtin hopes that they will not have problems in terms of financing suitable projects in Armenia in the coming years and as a proof mentions that the annual meeting of governors was followed by the singing of a $500,000-worth credit program with two Armenian food producing companies - Valetta and Oval.
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The BSTDB President is to be elected every third year. Russia demands that this rule be respected and even proposed its representative. {This created a contreversy with Turkey.}
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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears Here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.