Donor representatives from Austria to the United States met at the EBRD's Headquarters in London on 17 May ahead of the Bank's Annual Meeting and Business Forum.
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss results and priorities in the area of technical cooperation and other types of investment grants. In the past year donors have provided the EBRD with an unprecedented amount of funding: 454 million EUR.In 2011, bilateral donors - including Italy also through CEI Fund at the EBRD - continued to provide the bulk of resources while the European Union, the Bank’s largest contributor, has provided increasing support from its national programmes and regional platforms.
This money, the most received by the Bank in a single year, will benefit many people in countries where the EBRD invests. As a matter of fact, donor funds are crucial as a way of preparing for future EBRD investments, helping to foster reforms and improving the investment climate. Record donor funding in 2011 coincided with a record for total EBRD investments last year of 9.1 billion EUR.
“We are deepening the partnership with donors as we expand activities to the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, while remaining highly committed to our existing region of operations. We believe that by leveraging the resources of donors, the EBRD is able to achieve more than any individual institution or country could on its own,” said EBRD President Thomas Mirow.
During the meeting, the Bank presented donors with the newly published Donor Report. In this framework and as highlighted in the Donor Report, in 2011 more than 1.5 million EUR was committed through the CEI Fund at the EBRD for nine TC assignments, mainly in the transport and energy efficiency sectors. In 2010-11 the EBRD undertook eight energy audits utilising 264,600 EUR from the CEI Fund, which resulted in over 28 million EUR of sustainable energy investments by the Bank. The CEI funding is therefore instrumental in disseminating best practice on energy efficiency and energy sustainability in the CEI region, particularly in the Western Balkans, and enhances the EBRD’s investments. The CEI Fund contribution has been seminal in shaping the structure of the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.