Governor Wenzel in Washington D.C. for meetings with senior officials

10 October 2016

PARIS - The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) Rolf Wenzel was in Washington D.C. on 5-9 October, where he attended the Annual Meetings of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and held bilateral meetings with senior officials of CEB member countries.

Governor Wenzel, accompanied by senior CEB staff, attended a series of WB and IMF meetings in Washington D.C. In the margins of the meetings, Governor Wenzel met with Arben Ahmetaj, Minister of Finance of Albania; Zdravko Marić, Minister of Finance of Croatia; Dušan Vujović, Minister of Finance of Serbia; and Kiril Minoski, Minister of Finance of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.

Discussions focused on the migrant and refugee crisis, ongoing CEB operations in these countries covering a range of sectors, and ways to further strengthen cooperation with the Bank in the future.

Governor Wenzel welcomed the progress reported by the Ministers in their respective countries in terms of economic growth and fiscal policies, which boded well for the implementation of current and future projects.

The Governor also underlined that the CEB had an active presence in the Western Balkans, particularly through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), the Regional Housing Programme (RHP), and the Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF), and stressed the CEB’s commitment to supporting social projects in the region with funds and, where appropriate, technical assistance.

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.