Trilateral meeting at the high level at the IBEC headquarters: State Secretary of the Ministry of the Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, the IBEC and the IIB

On 17 July 2018 at the headquarters of the International bank for economic co-operation (IBEC) in Moscow the meeting of the officials of the IBEC and the International investment bank (IIB) with high representatives of the Slovak Republic was held. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Lukas Parizek headed the Slovak delegation, he was accompanied by the Ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Moscow Peter Priputen. The IBEC delegation was headed by the IBEC Chairman of the Board Denis Ivanov and the IIB delegation was headed by the acting IIB Chairman of the Board Alexandru Florescu.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of the Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Lukas Parizek welcomed the audience and informed on the ratification by the Slovak Republic of the changes in the statutory documents of both the IBEC and the IIB. For the IIB Slovakia's ratification means the completion of intrastate procedures and the entry into force of the new statutory documents of the Bank. The IBEC expects the completion of the ratification procedures regarding the amendments to its statutory documents in two more member states.

“Slovakia is a special country for our banks” noted the Chairman of the Board Denis Ivanov at his welcoming speech “five years ago exactly in Slovakia our partner Bank, the international investment bank, gained an impulse of the active development. At the IIB Council meeting in Bratislava a strategy of the IIB “relaunch” was approved, which allowed the Bank to start the newest and the most successful period in its history. Similarly Slovakia became a platform for the IBEC’s new start. The Concept of IBEC further development was approved in the end of June this year on the Bratislava meeting of the IBEC Council”. D. Ivanov shared the Bank’s plans in accomplishing the tasks the Bank faces under the “Bratislava” Concept and also informed on the Bank’s activity in the Slovakia and plans for its further development.

One of the key issue of the present meeting was the mutual statement of the IBEC Chairman of the Board Denis Ivanov and the acting IIB Chairman of the Board Alexandru Florescu on the start of the strategic partnership between two Banks and about the possibility of the establishing of the banking Group on the basis of two banks. The speakers noted that such synergy would bring tangible practical impact both to member-states of two international development institutions and directly to the Banks at their operational level.

Establishing the banking Group of the IBEC and the IIB will allow to revive the initial idea of establishing two development institutions, which was based on the division of profiles and competencies between the Banks granted the complementarity of the business- profiles of the two institutions: on the one hand, IIB’s investment activities, on the other hand, support of export operations and multilateral clearing in foreign trade of the IBEC member states.

Lukas Parizek supported the plans for strategic cooperation between the two banks and called for close collaboration between them in searching for the joint projects aimed at the development of the Slovak economy.