Wellington, May 19 NZPA - The Australian and New Zealand representative on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says Australia will pull out of the bank in 2010.

"The Australian government intends to withdraw from the Bank from 2010," Peter Reith, director responsible for Australia and New Zealand at the eastern European development bank, told the EBRD's annual meeting in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

Mr Reith said the bank's mandate of helping the countries of central and eastern Europe had largely been achieved, Reuters reported.

Australia has a 1 percent stake in the EBRD and today voted against the bank's plans for the use of its 1.1 billion euro profits. Mr Reith said it would have preferred the bank to pay a dividend instead of its plan to give 10 percent of profits to help making the Chernobyl nuclear plant safe.

The row began brewing last year, when a number of the EBRD's shareholders questioned the future of the bank and asked for a review of its direction, led by the US, the largest shareholder with a 10 percent stake.

The Financial Times in London reported in 2007 New Zealand among the nations opposing the bank's refusal to pay a dividend from record profits of 2.4 billion euros ($NZ4.5b) in 2006.

The newspaper said at the time that Washington was "deeply disappointed" with the way the bank had reviewed the allocation of profits, and the US would against proposals of the European Union-dominated bank board in protest, "and New Zealand have disclosed that they will also oppose the board'.

It was the first time votes had been cast against a board-backed resolution since the EBRD was established in 1991 to aid the ex-communist countries in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

New Zealand was represented at that meeting by the ambassador in Moscow, Chris Elder, and Eva Murray, his second secretary. Nominally, New Zealand's delegate to the bank is the Foreign Minister, Winston Peters.

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