- EBRD President visiting Albania for the second time this year
- Odile Renaud-Basso to speak at European Union-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana
- Bank has committed more than €1.9 billion to projects in Albania to date
President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso is visiting Albania on 5-6 December 2022 to take part in the European Union (EU)-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana.
This will be Ms Renaud-Basso’s second visit to Albania this year. She travelled to the country for the first time as EBRD President in April 2022.
The EBRD President will attend the annual summit of EU and Western Balkans leaders, which will be held on 6 December in the Albanian capital – the first time the high-level event is taking place outside the EU. The summit will be attended by the presidents of the European Council, European Parliament and European Commission, heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states and the leaders of the six Western Balkan countries, as well as the EBRD and other key international financial institutions. It will focus on how to tackle the impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine, particularly on the energy sector, developing the regional economy and supporting its approximation with the EU.
In her address to the summit, the President of the EBRD will reaffirm the Bank’s strong commitment to the Western Balkans region and outline the Bank’s priorities in supporting the regional economies and furthering regional integration, working alongside the European Commission and other international partners as part of Team Europe.
On the margins of the summit, President Renaud-Basso will meet the host, Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, and a number of other leaders.
To date, the EBRD has committed more than €1.9 billion to projects in Albania. Its investments in the private sector have been growing at a steady pace. So far in 2022, EBRD investment in the country has reached €155 million.
The Western Balkans is a priority area for the EBRD, which supports not only national development, but also regional economic integration, both with neighbouring countries and trading partners in Europe more broadly.
The Bank has so far invested nearly €16.5 billion in the Western Balkans region and continues to invest more than €1 billion there each year.
