EBRD President visits Romania

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is visiting Romania on 17-18 June for talks with senior officials, business partners and civil society.

 In Bucharest President Chakrabarti discussions include meeting with Romanian President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Minister of Finance Daniel Chitoiu, Minister for European Funds Eugen Teodorovici and National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu.

 He is also meeting senior officials from Romania's industrial and financial sectors and with representatives of civil society.

 In addition President Chakrabarti will deliver a speech at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

 Speaking ahead of his visit, President Chakrabarti said: "The EBRD is a strong and reliable partner for Romania . The country is clearly showing signs of recovery after what have been particularly challenging years and the EBRD remains committed to supporting Romania's efforts to return to a path of sustained growth in the future.”

 The EBRD has teamed up with the World Bank and the European Investment with €30 billion programme of investments over two years to support the economic recovery in central and south eastern Europe.

 The bulk of the EBRD's €4 billion contribution will be dedicated to south eastern Europe, including Romania, where the EBRD committed over €600 million in 2012.

 Since the beginning of its operations, the EBRD has invested about €6.2 billion in over 330 projects in Romania, mobilising over €12 billion for the projects from other sources of financing.