OREANDA-NEWS. January 10, 2012. The government of Moldova has approved the draft law about the consent with amendments to the Agreement on the EBRD Establishment according to which the EBRD mandate is expanding to the southern and eastern regions of the area of the Mediterranean Sea. The matter concerns the amendments which are being introduced in Articles 1 and 18 of the Agreement on the expanding the geography of the EBRD activity by including there the countries of the Northern Africa and Middle East, Valeriu Lazar, minister of economy has noticed.

The amendments into the constitutional document of EBRD will enable the bank to invest in the states of the Eastern and Southern areas of the Mediterranean. The banks shareholders are presented by 61 states and two international organizations. This resolution adopted by the management of EBRD – as a rule, presented by ministers of finance or presidents of central banks – has to be formally ratified by all the states – members by parliamentary passing. EBRD has already stated that the ratification process is to be completed approximately by the spring of 2013, but now the bank can start preparing to the further investment in to the region under the condition that reforms will continue there.

The first states to receive the EBRD investment will be two countries – founders of EBRD- Egypt and Morocco as well as Tunis and Jordan which this year applied for entering EBRD. The bank concedes that this group may become larger in future. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has now enough resources to invest in the region 2,5 bln. euros every year within the next several years, with 1 bln EUR of this sum being fallen to Egypt. The expansion of the Bank’s mandate will not affect its current activity in other states, EBRD has emphasized.

At present, EBRD, founded in 1991 in London to facilitate transient processes in couibtries with post-socialists economies, is operating in 29 states of CIS, the Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Balkans and Turkey.