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Swiss government donates EUR1.5mn for legal reform
Long-term funding supports improvement in laws for creditors’ rights
The Swiss government is contributing €1.5 million to the EBRD’s legal
transition programme to promote law reform in Russia and up to 12 countries in
central Asia and south-eastern Europe. It is the largest single contribution
to date to the Bank’s legal transition programme.
The contribution was confirmed at a meeting of EBRD First Vice President
Noreen Doyle and officials of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(SECO) in Bern today. Ms Doyle lauded SECO’s support for the Bank’s efforts in
improving the investment climate through legal transition in the EBRD region.
SECO is an important partner in co-financing EBRD investments, particularly in
the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Strategic Review Meeting held this
week in Bern is aims to further deepen the partnership between the Bank and
SECO, and to identify new areas of activity that are of mutual interest.
The legal transition funds will be used by the Bank to advise governments,
with the assistance of consultants, on introducing or improving laws and
institutions covering secured transactions, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy.
These related areas of law and legal administration are vital in improving the
availability of credit in emerging markets: lenders will only make loans of
money or goods when they are certain of their priority rights and legal
recourse to compensation should the debtor default on repayment.
Michel Nussbaumer, head of the EBRD Legal Transition Team, said this new Swiss
legal reform fund is large enough that long-term projects can be undertaken.
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