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EBRD’s shareholder representatives visit Czech Republic
Representatives of the shareholders of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development begin a four-day visit to the Czech Republic on Sunday. The Board of Directors represents the Bank's 62 public shareholders and approves all Bank projects. The goal of the visit is to learn more about the state of reforms and economic transition in the Czech Republic as it prepares to join the EU in May 2004.
Representatives of the Board in the delegation will be Ayse Donmezer, representing Turkey, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Serbia and Montenegro; Leon Herrera, representing Spain and Mexico; Kalin Mitrev, representing Bulgaria, Poland and Albania; Michael Neumayr, representing Austria, Israel, Cyprus, Malta, Kazakhstan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; Igor Ocka, representing Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Croatia; Desmond O’Malley, representing Ireland, Denmark, Lithuania, and FYR Macedonia; Hidde van der Veer, representing Netherlands and Mongolia; and Gerd Saupe, representing Germany. They will be accompanied by Alexander Auboeck, head of the EBRD Resident Office in the Czech Republic, and EBRD bankers.
The visit will give the Board members an opportunity to meet the Czech Republic’s EBRD Governor, Minister of Finance Bohuslav Sobotka, as well as the Governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdenek Tuma, representatives of the diplomatic community and civil society, and EBRD projects and the business community. The delegation will also visit several projects in which the Bank has invested, both in Prague and in northern Bohemia.
The EBRD recognises the sound economic reforms that have made the Czech Republic an attractive country for foreign investment in recent years. The EBRD will help the country with overcoming the remaining challenges of the transition process. The Bank will concentrate on close cooperation with local banks to facilitate access to funds for small and medium-sized enterprises, support the finalisation of the privatisation process, promote infrastructure investments with schemes that do not rely on sovereign guarantees and support municipalities and regions with EU-funded projects.
The EBRD has committed €873 million in 42 direct and 32 regional projects in the Czech Republic, which attracted a further €3 billion from business partners. The Bank expects to play an important role in the country also after it becomes a member of the European Union. After their visit to the Czech Republic, the Board members travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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