The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti will visit Bucharest on 17-18 September 2018 as the Romanian capital is hosting the summit of the Three Seas Initiative.
The Three Seas Initiative is a European project, launched in 2016, to strengthen trade, infrastructure, energy and political cooperation among 12 countries bordering the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
Members of the initiative include Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. All but Austria are countries where the EBRD invests or has invested in the past.
The summit will bring together heads of participating states, multilateral development banks and businesses. It aims to shortlist major strategic projects in the fields of energy, digital and transport infrastructure needed to support economic growth and the interconnectivity of member countries.
Speaking ahead of the event, the EBRD President said: “In order to support economic growth and help their income levels to converge with those of advanced economies, most countries in the EBRD region require either major investment with a view to expanding their infrastructure networks or investment in maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. The Three Seas Initiative is a ground-breaking effort to strengthen infrastructure networks in central Europe and I am looking forward to discussing feasible, well-designed projects which the EBRD could finance.”
In his meetings with the country’s authorities, President Chakrabarti will reconfirm the EBRD’s availability to support much-needed infrastructure projects in Romania. He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, Minister of Finance Eugen Teodorovici and central bank Governor Mugur Isarescu. He will also hold talks with representatives of the business community.
He will sign several financing agreements with Romanian private sector companies and will announce a new partnership to support the National Museum of Art. In addition, President Chakrabarti will deliver a lecture at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Science.
In Romania, the EBRD is among the top institutional investors. To date, the Bank has invested close to €8 billion in the country in more than 400 projects. In 2017 alone, it invested €550 million in Romania.
Of this financing, over €500 million was provided to the private sector, the highest level seen in the past seven years.
