Visiting President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti expressed on Tuesday here willingness to increase the volume of investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) compared to earlier years.
Chakrabarti placed special emphasis on supporting private sector development, regional and European integration and improving energy efficiency, BiH’s Council of Ministers stated in a press release the same day.
During the meeting with Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Sarovic, it was stated that total EBRD investment in BiH is 2.3 billion euros through 160 projects.
Chakrabarti stressed that the annual meeting of the EBRD Governing Board is an extremely important event for BiH and for the region as a whole.
Zvizdic thanked Chakrabarti for the engagement of EBRD in BiH and said that the result of this cooperation is a large number of implemented, extremely important, infrastructure and other projects important for economic reconstruction and development of BiH.
Some 2,000 delegates will attend the conference, which will focus on the business outlook for Western Balkan economies and on how growth in the region can be strengthened.
The leaders of the six Western Balkan nations – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – will attend the conference, taking part in a high-level panel discussion that will underscore the importance of regional cooperation.
Regional cooperation and integration will play a key role at the Annual Meeting and Business Forum, where the theme this year is Connecting Economies for Stronger Growth.
Particularly in the Western Balkans, the EBRD has placed a very high priority on promoting connectivity via its investments, with the aim of promoting both physical infrastructure links as well as ties between markets that strengthen trade and improve the business climate as the countries continue on their path towards EU approximation.
The EBRD is a leading investor in the Western Balkans, providing a record level of finance of €1.1 billion in 2018, and supporting their economies’ goal of membership of the European Union.
