The FINANCIAL — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has appointed Ivana F. Duarte, a senior banker, as new head of the Bank’s Resident Office in Baku. Ms Duarte will succeed Neil McKain and start in her new role in the capital of Azerbaijan on 15 October 2016.
Ms Duarte joined the EBRD in 2004 as a banker based in Prague, subsequently moving to the EBRD Headquarters in London where she lead a number of large transport infrastructure projects with both public and private sector clients. Her special focus was on developing public-private partnership (PPP) projects and related capital markets solutions across central Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, and the southern and eastern Mediterranean regions, according to EBRD.
The EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, Bruno Balvanera, introduced Ms Duarte to the Azerbaijani authorities in meetings this week. The EBRD delegation met the Minister of the Economy, Shahin Mustafayev; the Minister of Finance, Samir Sharifov; and the Deputy Prime Minister, Abid Sharifov; as well as representatives from the diplomatic community and the private sector.
Ms Duarte said: “I am very honoured to be appointed head of the EBRD Resident Office in Baku. Azerbaijan is a very important country in the region and for us and we shall continue to work very hard to offer our products and services to the local economy and investors. The EBRD has a strong team in Baku and a total commitment to continue supporting the country’s economy and the development of the private sector.”
Before joining the EBRD, Ms Duarte worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of Slovakia, at various mergers and acquisitions firms and at the investment banking arm of Citigroup. She holds an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona and an MSc degree in Economics from the University of Economics, Bratislava.
Since the start of its operations in Azerbaijan in 1992, the Bank has invested over €2.55 billion in 160 projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors of the country.
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