The ceremony of International Bank for Economic Cooperation and four national development banks joining the Memorandum of Partnership between the national and international development institutions of the Balkan region, Central and Eastern Europe was held as a part of the International Economic Forum "Roads for Partnership", organized by the Bulgarian Development Bank in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The head of the BBI, Stoyan Mavrodiev, announced the expansion of partnership between development institutions focused on mutual work in the region. The event was attended by representative delegation of IBEC, headed by the Chairman of the Board Denis Ivanov, who signed the document. The forum was devoted to the perspectives of Southern Europe development and integration of the region into the pan-European context. Among the participants were leaders of the largest European financial institutions, such as European Investment Banks, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, representatives of the diplomatic corps, business and the expert community.
The agreement, which started in April 2018 (at that time it was signed by 6 financial institutions – Bulgarian Development Bank, Hungarian Development Bank, Macedonian Development Bank, Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Investment Bank and Black Sea Trade and Development Bank) is aimed at developing the region of Southern Europe, implementing projects in such critical infrastructure sectors as energy, transport, and telecommunications. Now, Serbian Investment and Development Bank, Slovenian Export-Import Bank, Romanian Export-Import Bank, and Serbian Saving Bank joined the Memorandum together with IBEC.
ЭThis is an example of unique cooperation of the national and international development institutions with the aim of pulling together resources and efforts to solve important tasks in the development of the southern and eastern European region. The Memorandum implies the implementation of best practices in project financing, support for foreign trade operations, attraction of investments, and optimal use of resources. The parties intend to pay special attention to multilateral projects aimed at creating sustainable integration chains between companies in the region. This is especially important in the face of growing integration risks that horizontal economic ties can level off.
It is noteworthy that trade finance, which has become one of the key lines in the new business model of IBEC, is among the priorities of European development institutions. IBEC head, Denis Ivanov, stressed that even on the sidelines of the forum, during the exchange of views, participants discussed a number of promising contacts that could be transformed into real deals in the near future.