EBRD President Thomas Mirow will visit Bulgaria and Romania in the week commencing March 16, in a trip that will underscore the EBRD’s commitment to both these countries, in the longer term, and especially during this period of global economic volatility.
The EBRD has pledged to step up its support for the countries where it invests, including in Bulgaria and Romania.
It has announced a significant increase in its investments throughout the whole region for this year and also teamed up with other International Financial Institutions to provide substantial funding for the banking sector with a view to maintaining the flow of credit to the real economy, particularly to small and medium sized enterprises.
President Mirow will travel to Bulgaria on 16-17 March and hold discussions with senior government officials, business groups and the diplomatic community in Sofia.
On 17 March he will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski on supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
The EBRD has placed a high priority on energy efficiency investments in Bulgaria, where its total investments to date amount to €1.7 billion euros, across the whole economy including also in the financial and corporate sectors. Working with its many partners, the Bank has mobilised more than €6.2 billion for projects in Bulgaria.
President Mirow will also meet senior representatives of the new Romanian government as well as business leaders on 18-19 March during his visit to Bucharest.
The EBRD is preparing a significant increase in its investments in Romania this year from over €300 million in 2008.
The priorities this year are to support the real economy by helping to ensure banks are in a position to carry on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and also working particularly in the energy and energy efficiency areas.
To date, the Bank has invested about €3.8 billion in 249 projects in Romania and helped mobilise a further €7.2 billion from external sources, resulting in total investments of over €11 billion.
