The meeting between Natia Turnava, Acting Governor of the NBG, and Philip Brown and Robert Tabet, the leaders of Clearstream, international central securities depository (ICSD) was held in Marrakesh, within the framework of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Giorgi Laliashvili, head of the Financial Markets Department of the NBG, participated in the meeting.

Clearstream, an international central securities depository, included Georgia on the list of its countries in 2016. This allows international investors to purchase Georgian Government securities and store them in Clearstream. It should be noted that the majority of investment funds, who buy Georgian securities, keep them in Clearstream. For them, cooperation with Clearstream is comfortable inasmuch as Clearstream has good understanding of how the securities market operates in developing countries, and handles the infrastructural, operational and legal aspects of market access, thereby facilitating client access to such markets.

The parties summarized the many years of fruitful cooperation at the meeting. Prospects of new cooperation in Georgia were discussed, including opportunities to implement regional projects together with Georgian financial institutions.

Clearstream is one of the largest financial organizations in Europe with 50 years of experience and the status of an international central depository. The company is an important player in securities services in the global market. Clearstream has more than 2,500 customers in 110 countries around the world. Clearstream, as the important European depository service provider, manages the total of EUR 14 trillion in assets. Along with providing depository service, the company is also involved in the management of collateral and investment funds, which includes 170 million settlement operations per year on average - 100 different currencies, 58 domestic markets worldwide and international market operations.