DUSHANBE, December 4, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Landesbank Berlin Holding AG, a large commercial bank based in Berlin, is expected to provide a loan for modernization of Sharqi Ozod, the only major publishing house of Tajikistan run by the government.

An official source at the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest) says this issue was discussed in Dushanbe recently

GosKomInvest Director Davlatali Saidov reportedly met with Dr. Bernd Schmidt, the Export Financing Director at Landesbank Berlin AG here at the end of last week.

“The project for modernization of the Sharqi Ozod publishing house provides for purchase and installation of modern equipment necessary for printing accountable forms (blank foreign passports, birth certificates, etc),” the source said, noting that issuance of plastic cards is also envisaged.

A total cost of the project is 11.4 million euros, the source added.

Built more than twenty years ago, the 16-story Sharqi Ozod building is on the list of strategic facilities of Tajikistan.       

Landesbank Berlin Holding AG is a financial holding headquartered in the German capital.  It is the parent company of Landesbank Berlin AG. LBB is a universal bank, the historic core of which is Berliner Sparkasse, founded in 1818.  Since the day of its foundation, Berliner Sparkasse has continuously fulfilled a public-sector mandate in the service of the city.  The Bank is the market leader in Berlin and stands for client orientation, fairness, security and modernity.