News
CEB participates in the Steering Committee of the WBIF
15 June 2017
STOCKHOLM –The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) participated in the sixteenth meeting of the Steering Committee of Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) on 13-14 June 2017, which was hosted by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), currently the co-chair of the WBIF.
On this occasion, donors to the WBIF re-confirmed that the instrument should support projects in the environmental and social sectors through investment grants, in addition to projects related to the connectivity agenda agreed during the 2014 Western Balkans Six Summit in Berlin. Donors agreed to support a CEB-financed prison project in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. Bilateral donors also demonstrated their support for the WBIF by pledging € 5 million in additional funding and announcing further contributions in the future.
The WBIF was established in 2009 as a multilateral initiative of the EU, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), bilateral donors and the governments of the Western Balkan countries. It provides technical assistance and investment grants, which are blended with IFI loans, to finance projects to improve infrastructure, foster socio-economic development and speed up EU accession in the Western Balkan countries.
The CEB is one of the founding members of the WBIF. Six of the CEB member countries are beneficiaries of the WBIF: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.” The CEB’s present lending to the Western Balkans countries exceeds € 800 million.
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.