OREANDA-NEWS. On February 01, 2007 BNP Paribas and VEB (Vnesheconombank - Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs) signed a framework agreement for cooperation on the development of carbon projects under the Joint Implementation scheme, reported the press-centre of BNP Paribas.

Under this agreement BNP Paribas and VEB will jointly identify projects eligible to the UNFCCC*'s Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism schemes, cooperate on assessing carbon-specific risks and revenues and arrange the financing of such projects.

After the signature, Georges Chodron de Courcel, COO of BNP Paribas declared: “This agreement reinforces BNP Paribas' strategy and leading position in Carbon Finance. It will drive our two leading institutions to share their knowledge and expertise on this fast growing Carbon market and we expect that numerous projects will emerge in 2008 and further on.”

About VEB
Vnesheconombank (VEB) is a state corporation designed to promote competitiveness of the economy of the Russian Federation, its diversification, support of investment activity and other promotional and financial activities in order to implement projects in the Russian Federation and abroad, including projects, aimed, inter alia, at developing infrastructure, innovations and environmental protection.

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader in global banking and financial services and is one of the 4 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor's. The group is present in over 85 countries, with 161,000 employees, including 125,000 in Europe. The group holds key positions in three major segments: Corporate and Investment Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. Present throughout Europe in all of its business lines, the bank's two domestic markets in retail banking are France and Italy. BNP Paribas also has a significant presence in the United States and strong positions in Asia and the emerging markets.

*UNFCCC: the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change has been signed in 1992 and aims at fighting Climate Change. It drove to the signature of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 which gives binding emission targets to developed countries and design project mechanisms (Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism) which reward any additional emission reduction at project level by a tradable carbon credit.