EBRD meeting gets underway, projects, AIIB membership discussed

President Nicos Anastasiades and Finance Minister Harris Georgiades had several meetings with European and Asian finance officials on the sidelines of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) annual meeting taking place in Nicosia this week.

During the meetings, discussion focused on EBRD-investments on the island and funded projects, as well as potential funding recipients for new projects, primarily in the energy sector.

Georgiades had a meeting with the Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Thierry de Longuemar, where Cyprus’ upcoming membership was discussed.

Georgiades also met with the Minister of Economy and Development of Greece, Dimitris Papadimitriou, with whom he discussed issues of common economic and development interest, and also had a meeting with the Governor of the People’s Bank of China, Xiaochuan Zhou, where they discussed issues related to the further development of the economic cooperation between Cyprus and China.

During his meeting with Anastasiades, EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said the annual meeting being hosted on the island was “a great opportunity to showcase the wonderful economic recovery which is taking place and the future prospects.

Chakrabarti said that he had an excellent meeting with President Anastasiades, during which they discussed the future prospects for Cyprus and for the EBRD. He said that the bank had a strong start in Cyprus in the last three years with more than 225 million euros of investments in financial institutions, SMEs, the Limassol port and others. “We have some more years of good investment ahead of us. So we think the prospects are great,” he said.

The EBRD annual meeting and business forum, under the title “Targeting Green and Inclusive Growth: Meeting Regional and Global Challenges”, will end on Thursday.

During the first day, panel discussions included “Making Green Growth Work for Women” followed by an award ceremony for individual and companies whose work contributes to the promotion of gender equality. During the annual meeting there will also be presentations about the business opportunities in member countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine.

On Thursday, there will be a panel discussion on green growth, concluding with the EBRD Sustainability Awards which recognises achievements on sustainable energy, climate change adaptation, environmental and social best practice; and environmental and social innovation.

The Bank will also launch its first Inclusion Strategy with a press conference.

Media representatives will also have the chance to visit Kourion and an EBRDfinanced photovoltaic project in Pera Chorio Nisou.