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EBRD First Vice President Varel Freeman opens Bank’s 4th Russian regional office
Samara office covers the Volga Federal District where over 20 percent of Russia’s population live
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has officially opened an office in the Volga city of Samara, the fourth such regional office in Russia, as part of a long-term bank strategy which combines pushing deeper into Russia’s regions and getting closer to its local clients.
The EBRD, the largest single financial investor in the Russian economy, now has four offices outside Moscow: in St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Vladivostok and Samara. The Bank has started the procedure to add a further two regional offices in the cities of Krasnoyarsk and Rostov-on-the Don. These offices will, respectively, cover Siberia and Southern Russia.
The EBRD’s Samara office covers the Volga Federal district, one of the seven such administrative units into which
Russia is divided, and its opening underlines the Bank’s strong commitment to regional development, the EBRD’s First Vice President Varel Freeman said at a ceremony marking the inauguration which was attended by local authorities and representatives of the business community.
Of the €2.3 billion which the EBRD committed to Russia in 2007, 90 percent was earmarked for projects outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, said Alain Pilloux, the EBRD’s Business Group Director in charge of Russia. What also has to be remembered is that for every Euro that the EBRD invests, it mobilises another two Euros from its partners, Mr. Pilloux added.
The Bank’s cumulative investments to date in the Volga Federal District amount to €620 million and cover a wide range of activities extending from the motor industry to fertilisers, civil aviation to hydroelectric power. They include three projects to modernise the supply and treatment of municipal water, as well as funding for the banking sector and the EBRD’s extensive programme to support small, medium and micro businesses.
After the opening, Mr. Freeman plans to visit other parts of the Volga Federal district to meet with local authorities and discuss progress on existing and potential future EBRD deals. He will be accompanied on his trip, which will include visits to Kazan, Togliatti and Ulyanovsk, by Mr. Pilloux and Michael Hoffmann, head of the EBRD office in the Volga Federal District.
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