News
Governor Wenzel in Georgia for talks with CEB members
18 May 2015
PARIS - The Governor of the CEB Rolf Wenzel was in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 14-17 May, where he held a series of bilateral meetings with representatives of CEB member countries, in the margins of the EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum 2015.
Accompanied by CEB Vice-Governor for Target Group Countries Mikołaj Dowgielewicz, Governor Wenzel met with Romania’s Minister of Finance Eugen Orlando Teodorovici on 14 May. Discussions focused on the economic situation in Europe and on current and future CEB activity in Romania.
A member of the
Bank since 1996, Romania has had projects totalling over € 300 million approved
since 2011, primarily in the area of job creation and preservation but also in
urban and rural modernisation. Future projects in the country, which will be
put for approval to the next Administrative Council in June, are expected to support
further Romania’s policy in the social sector.
Following the meeting, Governor Wenzel said: “I thanked Mr Teodorovici for a very useful exchange of views and for Romania’s continuing support to the Bank. We agreed that in the current European financial context the CEB has a major part to play in providing maximum support to its members.”
On 15 May,
Governor Wenzel met with the Minister of Finance of Georgia, Nodar Khaduri. Having
joined the CEB in 2007, Georgia is one of the Bank’s newest members. The
country has had over € 100 million
approved in social financing from the Bank since 2011. All approved projects
have been in the sector “creation and preservation of viable jobs.”
Governor Wenzel thanked Mr Khaduri for the warm hospitality extended by his country and commended Georgia’s organisation of major events bringing together government officials and corporate executives. They agreed that there was scope for further strengthening the cooperation between the CEB and Georgia, particularly in the area of public infrastructure, and concluded that discussions in that respect would continue at the technical level.
Governor Wenzel
also met with delegates from other CEB members present in Tbilisi and with representatives
of commercial banks, focusing on areas of possible cooperation and future
project financing opportunities. Commenting on his visit, Governor Wenzel said:
“I am grateful for the hospitality we received in Georgia. The bilateral talks
I had in Tbilisi were constructive and reaffirmed the important role that the
CEB can play in supporting its members’ reform policies. We, at the CEB, stand
ready to fulfil this role in accordance with our social mandate.”
Set up in 1956, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) has 41 member states. Twenty-two Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries, forming the Bank's target countries, are listed among the member states. As a major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, the Bank finances social projects by making available resources raised in conditions reflecting the quality of its rating (Aa1 with Moody's, outlook stable, AA+ with Standard & Poor's, outlook stable and AA+ with Fitch Ratings, outlook stable). It thus grants loans to its member states, and to financial institutions and local authorities in its member states for the financing of projects in the social sector, in accordance with its Articles of Agreement.