OREANDA-NEWS. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Belarus’ OAO Bank BelVEB have signed an agreement to open a EUR10 million credit facility for a five-year period in the framework of the Belarus Sustainable Energy Finance Facility (BelSEFF) to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, Bank BelVEB said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, customers of Bank BelVEB will receive free technical support of their energy effective projects: energy audit, analysis of energy consumption and energy efficiency, assessment of potential energy saving, expert advice on the choice of energy equipment. The technical support shall be provided at the expense of the Czech Finance Ministry’s EUR1.5 million grant.

Bank BelVEB was registered on December 12, 1991. Russian Vnesheconombank controls 97.49% in the Belarus-based bank. The bank’s shareholders are 450 entities and over 43,000 individuals. Bank BelVEB’s income grew 230% on the year in H1 2013 to Br179.902 billion (around USD 19.9 million).