OREANDA-NEWS. OAO Belarus Development Bank (BDB) has signed partner agreements with six Belarusian banks in the framework of the BDB financial support programme for investment projects of Belarus' small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the bank said in a release.

The Development Bank's new partners are OAO Belinvestbank, ZAO MTBank, ZAO Alfa-Bank, ZAO Bank VTB (Belarus), OAO BPS-Sberbank and OAO Bank Moscow-Minsk.

As formerly reported, the total funding of the programme for 2014 was approved at Br300 billion (USD 27.9 million). The programme aims to support SMEs in the sphere of construction, agriculture, industry and communication.

The Development Bank was established on June 21, 2011 after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed ordinance #261 to create open joint-stock company Bank of Development of the Republic of Belarus.

The Development Bank is Belarus' agent bank to service and repay state loans and external loans attracted against a government security and extended to finance projects included in state programs.

The government holds a 94.518% stake in the Development Bank of Belarus, the share of OAO Belaruskali stands at 5.465%, the National Bank of Belarus - 0.0017%.