EBRD President leads team to Davos talks

Following strong year of investment in 2015

EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti arrives in Davos on Wednesday for three days of talks at the World Economic Forum which will focus primarily on investment opportunities in the EBRD regions and on the Bank’s response to persistent economic challenges.

Leading a team of senior EBRD managers, Sir Suma will hold discussions with high-level delegations from countries where the Bank invests, with the heads of other development organisations and with business executives and representatives from think tanks.

The President will be able to report on a record year for EBRD investments in 2015 of €9.4 billion and on the EBRD’s strong pipeline of projects for this year as emerging countries continue to grapple with a tough economic environment.

Global economic forecasts were wound back at the start of this year and there are clouds hovering over some of the largest emerging economies.

In addition to holding bilateral meetings, the EBRD President will speak at a number of events including a conference on investment opportunities in Kazakhstan where he will join Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov in leading a discussion with senior company executives.

The EBRD and the Kazakh authorities have worked very closely together in rolling out reforms. Since the signing of an Enhanced Partnership Framework Agreement in 2014, the EBRD has doubled investment in Kazakhstan.

The EBRD President will also speak at a conference on gender parity that will highlight the important role that can be played by Public-Private Partnerships in addressing gender inequality.

The EBRD, which launched its Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality at the end of last year, believes strongly that the private sector can be key to the promotion of gender parity while the public sector also has to contribute by creating an enabling environment for progress.

The theme of the 2016 Davos conference is the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. The EBRD supports economic progress in its regions by helping economies rise up the technological value chain. The Bank’s Knowledge Economy Initiative aims to use the knowledge economy to boost productivity and competitiveness by improving the business environment for innovation.