OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2008. The European Development Bank (EADB), founded on the initiative of Russia and Kazakhstan, intends to assist the UN programme on contributing to the countries with no access to the sea, Chairman of EADB Board Igor Finogenov said at the plenary session of UN General Assembly dedicated to implementation of the Alma-Ata programme of actions on assurance of special needs of the developing countries having no access to the sea.

The Alma-Ata programme of actions has become the first global document aimed at assurance of special needs of the developing countries with no access to the sea. It contains specific measures and recommendations on the policy of transit carriages, development of the transport infrastructure and contribution to the trade development. The programme envisages financial and technical assistance to this group of countries.

According to the UN data, the developing states, parted off the sea, are related to the number of the poorest developing countries with the lowest growth rates. As a rule, they much depend on a limited circle of sources of export receipts. The countries with no access to the sea include Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

As Finogenov said, the bank intends to focus the main efforts on participation in the projects in transport, infrastructure and water resources. "Presently, the bank considers the projects totally priced at over US5 billion, where the bank's equity share exceeds US2 billion. For his part, deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Nurlan Danenov draw the attention to the increased role of the Central Asia countries in solution of the problems in energy and food security. He urged UN to pay more attention to development of the transport infrastructure of the Asian region.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the day before that the world community should take into account the economic vulnerability of the countries separated from sea, facilitate the access of their goods to the world markets, as well as render them technical and financial assistance aimed at overcoming the problems related to their geographic isolation.

To note, Armenia intends to join EADB till late, 2008. The Bank's priority projects to be financed in Armenia include construction of a new NPP, development of a small hydropower engineering, etc.