Iraq has become the 74th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), according to a statement made by the organization on Thursday.
As a shareholder, Iraq can apply to become a recipient economy, thereby benefiting from the EBRD's finance and policy support.
The board approved an amendment to the agreement allowing the bank to expand its operations into Iraq during this year's EBRD annual meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
In October 2020, the board of governors approved Iraq's proposal made in April 2018 to join the bank, and now the process of becoming a shareholder has concluded.
Following the amendment's enactment, the bank will be in a position to take forward any request from Iraq to become an operating nation.
The governors' resolution in Samarkand also folded Iraq into the bank's southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, to which the country has strong economic links.
'I am delighted to welcome Iraq as a member of the Bank. We are fully committed to engaging with the country. When the time comes, we are looking forward to starting work in Iraq, applying our expertise to developing its economy,' EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso was quoted as saying in the statement.
The EBRD first started to operate in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region in 2012, launching activities in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
In 2017, operations were extended to Lebanon and the West Bank and Gaza.
By Duygu Alhan
Anadolu Agency
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