Русский
The Uzbekistan President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree for the country’s accession to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), with the country purchasing 777,777 shares in the EDB’s charter capital with a nominal value of US$1,000 each. Of these, 168,411 shares (21.7%) are paid-in, and 609,366 shares (78.3%) are to be paid upon demand. The total investment by Uzbekistan into the EDB will be US$168.411 million.
We originally predicted this would happen last year.
The EDB is an international development bank with a chartered capital of US$7 billion. The shareholders are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
The acquisition of EDB equity by Uzbekistan is significant as the EDB effectively operates as the policy bank for the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which includes the same shareholders as above with the exception of Tajikistan. Uzbekistan is not a full member of the EAEU; but has held observer status in it since 2020. The move to acquire equity is indicative that full membership may be on the horizon.
The EAEU has been busy in recent years and has established Free Trade Agreements with Iran, Mongolia, and the UAE. It already has FTA with Serbia, China and Vietnam, and is rapidly developing substantial trade strength throughout the Eurasian region. Uzbekistan has also recently shown interest in the EAEU unified customs transit system which simplifies trade between members and third party countries.
An overview of the EAEU can be seen here. It has a GDP of about US$5 trillion and is expected to show GDP growth of around 3% this year.
Further Reading
