European Bank for Reconstruction and Development shareholders agreed a 1 billion euro ($1.27 billion) special fund for the Mena region on Saturday ahead of full-scale expansion into the region, the EBRD said in a statement.

The fund will be used for investment in the development bank's new countries of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, the bank added.

The EBRD last year agreed to expand its mandate into the Middle East and North Africa, but the change has to be ratified by its country shareholders at government level.

The EBRD expects eventually to invest up to 2.5 billion euros a year in the new region, bringing its overall annual investments in its expanded region of operation to around 11 billion euros.

The EBRD was set up in 1991 to help countries of the former Soviet Union make the transition to market economies.-Reuters