YEREVAN, June 27. /ARKA/. Unlike in other South Caucasus countries, the portfolio of Black Sea Trade and Development Bank in Armenia is quite diversified, and about 50% of investments have been channeled into the real sector, BSTDB President Andrei Kondakov said in an interview with ARKA news agency.

"In Armenia, we can find interesting projects - in some countries it is not easy to do. We appreciate the fact that our Armenian portfolio is diversified. In neighboring countries we also have a lot of good projects, but they are mainly concentrated in the financial sector ", he said.

Kondakov said BSTDB’s funds have been injected in Armenia’s agriculture, retail and industry.
"The priorities of BSTDB operation in Armenia have been agreed on with the Armenian government. We believe that there is a very good possibility of lending to infrastructure, energy, including renewable, as well as to telecommunications sectors ", he added.

BSTDB president also stressed that, as in all countries, in Armenia the Bank gives a special attention to lending to small and medium businesses through local banks.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB ) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarter is in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is SDR 3 billion (aapx. 3.5 billion euro). BSTDB is rated long-term “a” by Standard and Poor’s and “A3” by Moody’s. Since its inception in 1999 the Bank has financed 12 projects in Armenia worth 50 million euros and plans to double this amount by 2015. Armenia’s share in BSTDB’s capital is 1% -0-