EBRD and EU in Eastern Partnership countries

The European Union (EU) and its member states formed the Eastern Partnership with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to help them build a stronger and more stable economic, social and political future.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) works closely with the EU to support small businesses, spur economic reform, improve infrastructure and municipal services and promote green energy.

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have signed Association Agreements with the EU that foresee the establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU.

This prospect of free trade with the EU – the world’s largest market – offers many new opportunities for businesses in these countries. The EBRD and EU provide access to finance and advice to help them improve production and processes, adapt to EU standards and become more competitive abroad. In Ukraine, we also set up a dedicated network of business support centres for this purpose.

Santa Ukraina is a textile producer in Ukraine that found itself in trouble when Covid-19 drastically reduced global demand for products of its kind. Under the European Union’s EU4Business initiative, the EBRD had supported Santa Ukraina to introduce IT technology that makes it easier to change their production and more rapidly and precisely manufacture garments. As a result, Santa Ukraina was able to quickly adjust to the realities of the pandemic and transform itself from a garment manufacturer to a face mask producer. “This technology proved instrumental in manufacturing face masks,” explains Evhen Dyrdin, CEO of Santa Ukraina.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the potential and necessity of e-commerce for businesses.  

With support from the EU, and thanks to the EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses programme, Ponti, one of Moldova’s leading textile manufacturers, obtained expert advice on integrating social media marketing into their sales strategy, and launched a new website which allows customers to place orders online.

“Thanks to the new site, our regular customers are able to buy the products they have known and loved for many years online. The new website helped us to roll out new items, too,” says Natalia Coșulean, Ponti’s Commercial Director.

With funding from the EU, we’ve helped Georgian coffee producer Mondo grow its young business into an export-oriented venture. The EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses team brought the company into contact with an international expert, who provided advice on aspects like product creation, quality control, and customer service. As a result, Mondo coffee is now present in the hospitality and retail sectors in Georgia. The company has also transformed from an importing business to an exporting one, with its products sold in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey.

Keeping cities on the move, while preserving the environment, has long been at the heart of the EBRD’s and EU’s work. We financed improvements to the metro system in Yerevan, Armenia, funded a fleet of new, green trolleybuses in Chisinau and Balti, Moldova, and are now introducing the first electric buses in the region of Batumi, Georgia. These are just some of the locations where we have made people’s daily commutes easier and more comfortable.

The EBRD’s Green Cities Framework aims to develop energy efficient and modern municipal services across its region in a bid to improve citizens’ well-being.

The EBRD has taken major steps to help clean the wastewater flowing into Lake Sevan (one of Armenia’s landmarks) and to secure a reliable water supply to local communities. This has improved wastewater treatment for five municipalities around the lake. The EU supported the investment through co-financing and a grant.

“I have always been fascinated by books because they change people’s lives,” said Nigyar Kocharli, sitting in Ali and Nino, her book café in central Baku.

Ms Kocharli is among the very few businesswomen in Azerbaijan, where only 7 per cent of business owners are female. She wanted to grow from a small- to a medium-sized company, so she turned to the EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses team. It helped her make the management of her businesses more efficient through various IT solutions. This work is funded by the EU4Business initiative.

With 3.5 million inhabitants, Moldova has a limited internal market and the success of many entrepreneurs depends on export opportunities. That is why the EBRD has partnered with the EU and the European Investment Bank to finance improvements in Moldova’s road network.

Over 830 km of key roads are being upgraded so that businesses can transport goods to markets abroad more easily and drivers and passengers can have safer journeys.

The EBRD’s work on nuclear safety has contributed to the success of one of the most ambitious projects in the history of engineering: securing the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident with the giant arch known as the “New Safe Confinement”. It is the largest moveable land-based structure ever built.

The EU has been by far the largest donor to the EBRD-managed nuclear safety funds with €2.437 billion.

With funding from the European Union, the EBRD worked with ScienceSoft, a software producer from Belarus, to diversify its client base to more than 24 countries and expand its business through a merger.

The EBRD put the company in touch with an adviser from Ireland who helped it define a strategy for increasing sales in European markets.

We launched a programme to support reforms within Ukraine’s public administration through the EBRD-managed Ukraine Stabilisation and Sustainable Growth Multi-Donor Account, to which the EU is the largest donor. Reform Support Teams, consisting of professionals from outside the civil service, work in various ministries to help implement priority reforms.

As part of the wider support architecture in Ukraine, the fund also finances Ukraine’s first Business Ombudsman Council. This institution helps fight corruption to improve the investment climate and promotes the principles of fairness, openness and accountability within the public sector.