The President of the Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) in 2006-2010 will be the representative of Turkey. The Board of Governors of BSTDB made this decision at the summit meeting held on August 31, in Salonika, Greece. According to the resolution adopted at the meeting after the expiration of the indicated term, in 2010-2014 the BSTDS will be governed by the representative of Russia. Mr. Roman Gotsiridze, the President of the National Bank of Georgia, opposed the inclusion of this article in the text of the resolution.   According to the procedure of electing the officials the Board of Governors of the mentioned financial institute first elects the Bank shareholder country, the representative of which will assume the responsibilities of the President of the Board of Governors for a specified period. The concrete candidate will be nominated only after three months period. At the meeting in Salonika two countries - Russia and Turkey - asserted their claims for the position of the President of the Board of Governors of BSTDB. According to the compromise solution found at the summit the Board of Governors of BSTDB will be governed by the representative of Turkey in 2006-2010 and in 2010-2014 by the representative of Russia.   Mr. Roman Gotsiridze, the President of the National Bank of Georgia, who was taking part in the summit, voted against the decision rarely used in the international practice.-**-   “This kind of issues are mainly addressed by the principal shareholders of the Bank - Turkey, Russia and Greece. We would prefer that small shareholders of BSTDB should not be limited to act solely as observer.” stated Mr. R. Gotsiridze, the President of the National Bank of Georgia.   The name of the President of the Board of Governors of BSTDB will be known in November and the officials of the mentioned financial organizations will be gathered in Baku to take part in the election of the President. Mr. Roman Gotsiridze declares that he will support the representative of Turkey for the position of the President of the Board of Governors of BSTDB.  In his speech at the meeting Mr. Roman Gotsiridze noted that he dislikes the idea according to which the identity of the next president of the BSTDB is known four years prior to the election. Accordingly, the President of the National Bank of Georgia called it odd. The representatives of Bulgaria also shared Mr. R. Gotsiridze’s   opinion about it.   In the structure of BSTDB the most principal shareholders are Turkey, Russia and Greece. Each of them holds 16.5 % of shares, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine 13.5%-13.5%,  Albania and Azerbaijan – 2-2%, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova, each  holds 1 % of the shares.  The authorized capital of BSTDB is defined by SDR 1 billion (special drawing rights). In 2004 the share of Georgia in the share capital of the Bank   due to the solid debt decreased from 2% to 1%.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank was established with the purpose of alleviating financial difficulties of BSEC (Black Sea Economic Cooperation) member states (Greece, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia). The headquarter of BSTDB is located in Salonika, Greece.   The agreement on the establishment of BSTDB was signed on June 30, 1994 at the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC states in Tbilisi and was ratified by the Parliament of Georgia on December 25, 1996.   From June 1, 1999, after passing through the organizational and legal stages, BSTDB began performing financial operations. BSTDB has opened credit lines in the amount of USD 13.5 million for JSC “Bank of Georgia”, JSC “TBC Bank”, JSC “United Georgian Bank” and JSC “Procreditbank”. Besides, BSTDB is implementing projects of an insurance-credit agency on the development of export in Georgia