The FINANCIAL — The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, visited the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London today for a meeting with the Bank’s President Sir Suma Chakrabarti. They were joined by members of the government of Kosovo and EBRD senior management and discussed the Bank’s activities in the country.
Kosovo became an EBRD shareholder and country of operations in December 2012. To date, the EBRD has invested in 50 projects in Kosovo for a total value of more than €200 million. In October 2016 the EBRD Board of Directors approved a new country strategy for its work in Kosovo with three priorities: supporting the competitive development of the private sector, enhancing energy security and sustainability, and supporting connectivity and regional integration, according to EBRD.
Prior to the adoption of the new country strategy EBRD President Chakrabarti visited Kosovo in July 2016 in the course of a wider tour of the Western Balkans. Prime Minister Mustafa attended the Western Balkans Investment Summit at the EBRD in February this year.
President Chakrabarti welcomed the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister and a senior government delegation from Kosovo today and said: “We are very eager to deepen and widen our cooperation with Kosovo. We are strongly committed to supporting its private sector development on a sustainable and inclusive basis, as well as the country’s regional integration. I have visited the Western Balkans twice this year alone and what I saw was encouraging. There is now a real drive for reform and the EBRD stands ready to offer its assistance with investment and policy dialogue.”
Prime Minister Mustafa added: “The EBRD is supporting Kosovo’s economic development as well as the implementation of many projects. Today, we received the concrete support of President Chakrabarti for projects that are priorities of the government of Kosovo and will have an impact on improving overall economic development the quality of life of people in Kosovo. The government of Kosovo welcomes the EBRD’s new strategy for Kosovo and anticipates increasing involvement of the Bank in supporting the private sector, in particular now after a positive evaluation by the World Bank of the conditions for doing business in Kosovo.”
The Kosovo delegation will also use its visit to London for detailed discussion with EBRD management representatives to talk about projects.
During his latest visit to Pristina, President Chakrabarti signed two agreements with local banks, both aimed at helping local private sector businesses, one of the Bank’s priorities. The EBRD’s operations in Kosovo are headed by Elena Petrovska, who joined the President and the Prime Minister in the meeting today.
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