EDB urges regional development institutions to develop cooperation
Yekaterinburg, 2 April 2014. Regional development institutions should express more initiative and cooperate with international financial institutions (IFI) in a more proactive fashion. Gennady Zhuzhlev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), stated this at a plenary session of the 2nd All-Russia Forum of Development Institutions, which opened today in Yekaterinburg.
Mr Zhuzhlev noted that the level of cooperation between regional development institutions and IFIs remained low at the moment. He urged regional leaders and businesses not to wait until all regulations and rules of the game were finalised but to begin to take more proactive steps to partner with IFIs. He believes that, in anticipation of complicated procedures at IFIs, regional development institutions often hesitate whether to apply for investment directly to EDB, the EBRD or the IFC. “However, to win in a lottery you at least need to buy a lottery ticket,” joked Mr Zhuzhlev.
At the forum the EDB delegation presented the Bank’s projects at the roundtable tilted Federal Development Institutions: Regional Experience, Risks and Prospects. During the presentation Mr Zhuzhlev told how the Bank implemented investment projects and emphasised their long-term nature and flexible financing terms.
EDB is taking part in this forum for the second time. The Bank is an official partner of the 2nd All-Russia Forum of Development Institutions and a member of its organisational committee.
This year the forum pays special attention to the inter-level cooperation between development institutions in implementing investment and, in particular, infrastructure projects and to the promotion of projects with private-public partnership schemes.
The participants in the forum traditionally include development corporations and agencies from all over Russia, key international and federal development institutions, and representatives of federal and regional governmental authorities of Russia.
Additional Information
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. EDB’s charter capital exceeds US $1.5 billion. 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.
Read more about EDB at https://eabr.org/