EBRD to invest EUR 1.5-2 billion in projects of Eastern Partnership countries next year

Baku. 3 October. REPORT.AZ/ The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to invest EUR 1.5-2 billion in projects in the six countries of the Eastern Partnership program in 2019, Managing Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Eastern Europe and Caucasus Francis Malige said.

Report informs citing Interfax that the projects will be invested in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova.

"We invest 1.5-2 billion euros in this region per year. This amount varies from country to country and from year to year. Sometimes we invest more in Belarus, less in Ukraine, more in Azerbaijan, less in Georgia. It all depends on the project. I hope that this kind of scale will continue in the future," Malige said.

He added that the EBRD does not have a fixed investment plan in each of these countries. "We are trying to find projects that are worth funding. We first find a deal that would be interesting, attractive. If the deal is attractive, then we finance it," the EBRD representative said.

The Eastern Partnership program, aimed at bringing EU closer to its six eastern neighbors - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, was launched in 2009 at a summit in Prague. It was initiated by Poland and Sweden.