Jordan has requested membership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank said on Wednesday, a first step to receiving funding alongside North African countries Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

The EBRD's 63 country and institutional shareholders are currently considering an extension of the bank's geographic mandate to include the southern and eastern Mediterranean region. A unanimous vote is needed to make the change, with a decision due by the end of October.

In a letter to EBRD President Thomas Mirow, Jordan's Acting Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Mohammed Najjar said that over the last year Jordan had sought to accelerate measures to strengthen its democratic governance.

The EBRD invests around 8-9 billion euros a year in Europe's emerging economies, mainly in the private sector. Investment in North Africa is expected to total around 2.5 billion euros annually.

Group of Eight finance chiefs agreed earlier this month to raise financial support for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia to $38 billion, and offered Libya the chance to receive funding.