Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 28 / Trend A. Akhundov /
Azerbaijan can get up to 15 percent share holding in the ECO Trade and Development Bank, Deputy Director for External Relations of the bank Tuncay Melektosun told Trend over phone.
He said that according to the document, regulating the rules for admitting new members to the bank, the share of each new member must not exceed 15 percent, and not less than 0.34 percent.
"While admitting new members to the shareholders of the bank, the authorized capital will be increased from the current 300 million ECO-units (about $458.73 million) up to 580 million ECO-units (about $886.87 million)," he said.
While entering the bank a minimum payment for a share holding hits 2 million ECO-units (about $3.058 million). It will hit 0.34 percent of total capital, while the maximum allowable contribution for buying 15 percent will hit 87 million ECO-units (about $133.031 million).
In this case, three founders of the bank - Iran, Pakistan and Turkey will have equal shares of 17.24 percent or 100 million ECO-units (about $152.91 million) for the total amount of their shares to form the majority.
"Having a 15 percent share holding, the country has the right to appoint a representative to the Board of Directors of the bank. The participants, having a stake less than 15 percent, may nominate a common representative," he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the XI ECO Summit in Istanbul on December 23, stated that Azerbaijan will use the invitation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to become a full member of the ECO Trade and Development Bank.
He said that the official appeal was not received from Azerbaijan.
"It is too early to talk about it. ECO member-countries represent the Central Bank or the relevant ministries. First of all, Azerbaijan must determine the organization which will represent the country at the bank and make investments. Then, we must get a formal appeal from this organization. The agreement will be reached after its reviewing. Since the ECO Trade and Development Bank is an international. The agreement will be discussed by the entire Governing Council. A decision will be made to include a new participant in the list of shareholders", he said.
He said that the bank has not funded the projects related to Azerbaijan, as all the projects are aimed at member-countries of the bank. The projects will be implemented in these countries after new participants join.
"The main features of our bank are to develop trade and finance the projects aimed at economic growth in member countries. If Azerbaijan joins the ECO-Bank within the agreements that we will achieve between our bank and Azerbaijani banks, we will provide small and medium enterprises and companies with medium-term financing, as well as short-term funding to support trading operations, " he said.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation was founded by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey in 1985. In 1993, the organization got the status of the observer at the UN, and a year later - in the Organization of Islamic Conference.
The ECO Trade and Development Bank has the registered capital worth 300 million SDR (about $458.73 million) and the capital worth 1 billion SDR (about $1.529 billion). It was founded by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey in 2005. The bank headquarters is located in Istanbul
ECO-unit equals 1 SDR.
The official exchange rate is 1,5291 USD/SDR.