NRB will handle major financial projects for Turkmenistan

National Reserve Bank (NRB) has been granted the exclusive right to manage all obligations, estimated at USD 500 million, due Turkmenistan from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan. Agreement on the matter was reached in Ashkhabad in a meeting between Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov and the president of NRB, Yury Kudimov, the bank's press service told Rosbalt. NRB also has won the right to handle Russian debts to Turkmenistan. These are commercial bank debts, dating from 1992-93, amounting to USD 50 million.

'National Reserve Bank has much experience in both the commercial and governmental debt market,' Kudimov was quoted as saying after his meeting with the president of Turkmenistan. The two also agreed that NRB would organize the finances and handle banking for Zarit, a joint creation of Itera, Rosneft and Zarubezhneft for the development of Blocks 29,30 and 31 in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. Independent experts estimate sector reserves at 11 billion tonnes of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic meters of gas.

NRB was founded in 1994. It is one of the largest commercial investment banks in the Russian Federation.