DUSHANBE, March 15, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced on March 14 that the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) became the tenth development finance institution to adopt IFC’s Master Cooperation Agreement, which makes it easier for lenders to co-finance projects with IFC in emerging markets.

According to press release issued by IFC, the agreement standardizes steps that lenders take when joining IFC to co-finance projects, increasing efficiencies and thereby cutting costs to borrowers and lenders throughout the life of a loan.  IFC created the agreement in response to calls by G20 nations for increased collaboration among international financial institutions to help meet private sector financing shortfalls during the global financial crisis.

“IFC and the Eurasian Development Bank share a mission of supporting economic development and cross-country economic ties in the region,” said Snezana Stoiljkovic, IFC Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, at a signing ceremony.  “Global and regional financial institutions need to work together to make a real difference, and this agreement will allow us to get funding more quickly where it’s needed.”

IFC mobilizes funding from other financiers to meet the needs of private sector clients in emerging markets.   Lenders who adopt the Master Cooperation Agreement benefit from IFC’s existing syndication platform, deal-structuring expertise, due diligence, and global presence.

“This agreement is a new step in our cooperation with IFC,” said Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Executive Board of EDB.  “It will add momentum to our joint efforts to support development of critical sectors in our member countries such as infrastructure and finance. The Master Cooperation Agreement will help to streamline this work.”

Signatories to the Master Cooperation Agreement are the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), France’s Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco); Germany’s Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH ( DEG); the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), the Netherlands’ Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO); the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID); the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTD); and the Development Bank of Austria, Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB), Arab Petroleum Investments Corp (APICORP).

In its last fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, IFC mobilized $734 million through 14 syndicated parallel loans for projects in emerging markets.  International financial institutions accounted for 37 percent of the $2 billion that IFC mobilized through loan syndications, compared to 17 percent of $2.2 billion in fiscal 2009.  In the first half of fiscal year 2011, which ended December 31, 2010, IFC mobilized $672 million through 11 syndicated parallel loans to emerging market borrowers, 45 percent of them to borrowers in the poorest countries, and often in remote, frontier regions of those countries.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.  In a time of global economic uncertainty, its new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010.

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution, a sub-regional development bank, founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The EDB charter capital exceeds US$1.5 billion. The EDB member states are Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan and Belarus.