Русский
The Eurasian Development Bank‘s (EDB) Council has approved the potential expansion of the financial institution’s membership to include 11 countries, EDB Chairman Nikolay Podguzov has stated, speaking at the bank’s annual meeting and business forum.
Podguzov said that new members could include Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, and several Gulf states—Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—adding that the EDB wants to become a full-fledged regional development bank, and that means getting all member countries involved in shaping investment policy.
He said that “Opening our Abu Dhabi office last year was no accident. Food and security are major concerns for the Gulf States, while they also have strong expertise in irrigation technology. That’s why we see our future in expanding to these 11 countries—though not all will necessarily join as members. We have three new shareholders scheduled for the next strategic period.”
The EDB is a development bank operating across the Eurasian region. Its largest shareholders are Russia and Kazakhstan, with Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan also as paid-up members. Russia currently holds a 44.79% share in the charter capital of the EDB. Its stake was reduced from nearly 66% (which gave it a controlling majority) to less than 50% through a redistribution of shares in December 2022 and was designed to dilute Russia’s majority control and help protect the bank from Western sanctions. The bank is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
By the end of 2025, the EDB’s cumulative portfolio included 326 projects totaling US$19.6 billion in investments, with the bulk focused on transport infrastructure, digital systems, green energy, agriculture, industry, and machine building. The addition of new shareholders, especially from the Middle East, will help develop a financial investment corridor between Middle Eastern capital and Central Asia, where investment is needed.
