Nebati due in Morocco for EBRD annual meeting

TURKEY’S Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati is set to fly to Morocco to attend the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The first in-person gathering in three years in Marrakech will be dominated by the ongoing war on Ukraine, which is heading toward three months after Russia launched the invasion.

Nebati will attend the Board of Governors’ opening session, which marks the formal start of the three-day event, and will also hold talks with his counterparts, a statement by the ministry said yesterday.

The statement said the Turkish delegation would also discuss the latest developments regarding the Turkish economy and the current economic policies Ankara is pursuing.

Representatives from the bank’s 73 country and institutional shareholders will gather from tomorrow to Thursday at the event that comes against the backdrop of the war on Ukraine – one of the largest economies in which the EBRD invests. The economic impact of the war is being felt in all the regions where the bank operates.

A statement by the EBRD said shareholders would discuss how they can best support the bank’s response both in Ukraine and in other countries of operations that are dealing with an influx of millions of refugees.

The meeting, under the theme of “Responding to Challenges in a Turbulent World,” will also be considering the wider economic picture, with rising inflation and concerns over energy and food security, it noted.

The EBRD is implementing a 2 billion euros ($2.11 billion) resilience package to support Ukraine and help countries directly affected in the surrounding region. On Tuesday, the Bank will publish its latest “Regional Economic Prospects,” which will give a strong indication of how economies are continuing to be affected by the war.

Around 1,500 people are expected to attend the annual meeting in person at the Palais des Congres in Marrakech. It will be the first physical gathering since Sarajevo in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the events in 2020 and 2021 to be fully virtual.

The EBRD operates in 38 economies from central Europe to Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean, including North Africa. The EBRD has been considering a further expansion of its geographic scope to sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq.

Shareholders will consider whether to take the first step toward this possibility in a discussion on Thursday, the EBRD said.