- Joint press release from the Central Bank of Iceland and the Russian Ministry of Finance

A delegation from the Central Bank of Iceland and the Icelandic Ministry of
Finance visited Moscow on October 14 and 15, 2008, to conduct the first set of
meetings with the representatives of the Russian Ministry of Finance to discuss
a potential loan from the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iceland which
could help the Icelandic Republic to resolve its foreign liquidity issues. 

The Russian delegation was headed by Mr. Dimitry Pankin, Deputy Minister of
Finance and the Icelandic delegation was headed by Mr. Sturla Pálsson, Director
of International and Market Operations of the Central Bank of Iceland. 

The discussions in Moscow centered on exchange of information between the
parties, the analisys of the current situation in the financial markets and the
Icelandic situation in particular. The parties have agreed to continue their
discussions. 

Mr. Pankin stated: “The meetings were held in a very friendly manner and we
have learned a lot about the current situation in Iceland, the banking system
and the Icelandic economy. We are working from our end on further exploration
of the issues before we can reach a final decision.” 

Mr. Pálsson stated: “We are very pleased with our progress and appreciate the
swiftness with which our Russian counterparts agreed to meet and discuss the
potential loan. We are presenting our business case to our counterparts since
we continue to belive that the fundamentals of the Icelandic economy are strong
and that we will weather the current storm in the financial markets.”