EDB and the World Bank Group to collaborate in establishing the Global Infrastructure Facility
Almaty, 23 December 2014. Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) signed the Collaboration Arrangement relating to the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) Partnership Programme. The document was executed by Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB, and Bertrand Badré, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer.
The GIF will be an open global platform aiming at leveraging the efforts of the wide range of institutions currently engaged in supporting EMDE infrastructure with the participation of private infrastructure investors, coalescing around project preparation, structuring, and risk mitigation for individual infrastructure investments. The objective of the GIF will be to pool resources necessary to find solutions to significant infrastructure tasks in these countries and to implement large and complex projects with the prospective involvement of private capital.
The GIF intends to provide resources to prepare well-structured infrastructure projects, and to serve as an additional mechanism for accessing the expertise of all GIF partners, in combination with guidance from prospective private sector financiers into project structures.
In their Collaboration Arrangement EDB and the WBG agreed to take measures to develop cooperation in establishing the GIF. This work will involve, in particular, the determination of management options, operating mechanisms, areas of operation, and sources and uses of the GIF funds, including project selection criteria. The parties also agreed to coordinate their efforts in this area and to share best practices and their experience in preparing infrastructure projects.
“EDB’s joining to the GIF as a consulting partner is of long-term and strategic importance,” says Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB. “This partnership will make it possible for the Bank to access the expertise of the world’s leading financial institutions in the area of infrastructure finance and the facility to avail itself of EDB’s rich experience in the region.”
Additional Information
The World Bank Group is made up of five unique international development institutions owned by 187 member countries, including: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) together with the International Development Association (IDA) — widely known as the World Bank (WB); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each of these World Bank Group institutions plays a different, but collaborative role in advancing the vision of inclusive and sustainable economic growth in a globalised world. The IBRD aims to support growth in middle-income countries and reduce poverty in creditworthy poorer countries, while the IDA focuses on the world’s poorest states.
Read more at https://worldbank.org/russia.
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.