The conference, centered around the theme “Economic Gardening and Development Impact” highlighted the importance of nurturing local potential and investing in human, knowledge, and community capital to drive sustainable growth and development. Participants explored innovative solutions and strategies to enhance development impact, promote financial inclusion, and foster economic resilience.
IBEC Chairman of the Board Denis Ivanov presented the topic of economic resilience in trade. International trade is a cornerstone upon which enduring economies are built, enabling them to withstand shocks, adapt to changes, and maintain their functionality amidst uncertainty. The world is experiencing a period of deep and profound change in trade and economic policy. This means that there would be new opportunities and stronger economic ties between regional groups and trade blocks, which will increasingly trade with each other.
The resilience in trade is based on three key pillars, which include trade finance stability, diversification of trade both in terms of products and new markets as well as robust infrastructure of logistics and payment systems. In this regard, IFIs have two key roles in strengthening trade and economic resilience: building up shock resistant trade flow environment and crisis respond during economic disruptions.
IBEC being the development bank which focuses mostly on supporting trade tries to change the angle of cooperation with more traditional development banks. IBEC aims to strengthen the supply chains for the implementation of the investment projects financed by MDBs in close partnership with local financial institutions. Synergy among development finance institutions is the key to radically increasing the sustainability of international supply chains.
IBEC Chairman had a number of meetings with the participating national development banks where the parties discussed risk-sharing instruments and other cooperation perspectives aimed at supporting international trade resilience.