EBRD To Boost Funds For Central Asian Countries
Posted 03/08/2002 Bloomberg
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will boost funds for former Soviet Union countries neighboring Afghanistan by as much as 42 percent this year to aid growth and limit the potential for conflict. The region's biggest investor will seek to provide between $350 million and $400 million for the Central Asia region, said President Jean Lemierre. That compares with 310 million euros ($269 million) added last year to a 1.9 billion euros portfolio in Central Asia and 220 million euros invested in 2000. Central Asian countries hosted several hundred U.S. troops during the strike against Afghanistan after the Taliban government refused to surrender Osama Bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. The EBRD, which is 10 percent owned by the U.S. government, wants to extend cooperation to economic development in the region. "There is a window of opportunity after Sept. 11,'' Lemierre said in a speech at the London School of Ecomomics. ``They and Russia have been very open to the west in allowing use of their airspace'' and now "they want to have a dialogue with the west.'' The U.S. has stationed troops in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Poverty among the 15 million people in the region, which also includes Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, has soared since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, cutting assistance from Russia. The EBRD will seek investments in railways, banks and other sectors that can enable the oil- and gas-rich region to develop, while also looking to promote democratic government and foreign trade links, reduce corruption and resolve shortages of essential items, including water. "May be in the past, we haven't given enough attention to the region,'' Lemierre said. "We should support them more
