The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will hold its annual shareholders meeting and 2008 Business Forum in Kyiv on May 18 and 19.
Promising to bring more investment to Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will hold its annual shareholders meeting and 2008 Business Forum in Kyiv on May 18 and 19.
Invited by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the meeting is the EBRD’s second in Kyiv, the first being a decade ago.
About a third of the 3,000 expected guests will be EBRD shareholders, as well as finance, economics, and foreign affairs ministers and several heads of state, said Anton Usov, EBRD press secretary in Kyiv.
The business forum will address “infrastructure, corporate and social responsibility, the aspirations of the growing middle classes and how this is affecting demand and economic reform, the impact of rising food prices, and changing technologies,” said Anthony Williams, media relations head at EBRD.
Infrastructure development and investment for Euro-2012 will also be discussed.
In recent years, EBRD shifted its focus from central European states such as Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which are now European Union members, Usov said.
“The most interesting countries for us now are Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and also Azerbaijan and the Balkan countries,” he said.
Last year, EBRD invested $1 billion in Ukraine’s economy, conducted 32 transactions in Ukraine, increased its Kyiv office staff by 30 percent to 32 employees, and opened a new regional office in Dnipropetrovsk.
Among the biggest 2007 investments were a $145 million loan to the municipal transportation enterprises Kyiv Metropolitan and Kyivpastrans, a $100 million financing program to Galnaftogaz (the “OKKO” gasoline station operator), a $117 million loan to Cersanit Invest Company that specializes in distributing bathroom equipment and tiles produced by the Polish Cersanit Group, a $50 million loan to UkrExImBank, and a syndicated loan of $100 million to Creditprombank.
To date, EBRD has funded 158 projects, investing $4.6 billion in Ukraine’s economy, according to a bank press release.
EBRD, owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, the European Community and European Investment Bank, was established in 1991 to invest in post-Communist bloc countries from Central Europe to Central Asia.
It provides project financing for banks, industries, and businesses, as well as new investments in existing companies.
It also works with publicly owned companies to support privatization, restructure state-owned firms, and improve municipal services.
The two-day event will take place at the International Center of Culture and Arts and Hotel Ukrayina, Usov said.
