Prime ministers from the region are meeting with investors and entrepreneurs to discuss privatisation, infrastructure and energy
Two years after the first successful Western Balkans Summit at the EBRD, the Bank is again gathering the prime ministers from the region at its headquarters in London to talk about investment challenges and opportunities.
The Western Balkans Investment Summit is bringing together prime ministers from the region, comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, with entrepreneurs and investors to discuss the development of transport links, the potential for renewable energy and the privatisation agenda in the Western Balkans.
The Summit was opened by EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti and the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Maude of Horsham with key note addresses. Sir Suma said: “Regional cooperation is now a reality and this is testimony to the newly achieved maturity and stability of the region. Intensifying regional cooperation is one of the greatest achievements of the Western Balkans, a demonstration of the new vision of its political leaders.”
In the spirit of deepening and intensifying cooperation in the region the EBRD-backed SEE Link, an innovative regional platform for trading securities listed on the Bulgarian, Croatian and Macedonian stock exchanges, is being launched during the Summit. The Serbian and Slovenian bourses will confirm their intention to join the initiative during the conference in London, boosting regional integration of capital markets.
The Summit aims to highlight investment and business opportunities in the region and promote the inflow of foreign direct investment and cross-border projects. Participants included government officials, policy-makers, experts as well as leading domestic and international business representatives.
The event has proved very popular with the public and is being attended by more than 300 guests.
The EBRD is one of the largest investors in the Western Balkans and last year alone the Bank invested around €1 billion in various projects from energy efficiency to infrastructure and from support for financial institutions to agribusiness.
Full video coverage of the Summit is available on demand on the EBRD YouTube channel. For updates, follow us on Twitter @EBRD #EBRDwb.
