PM Adviser elaborates on the importance of Iraq joining EBRD as shareholder

 
Baghdad-INA
 
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, on Friday elaborated on the importance of Iraq joining the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
 
“Iraq originally submitted a request to join the Bank in April 2018 and the Board of Governors approved its membership in October 2020 as the 74th shareholder”, Salih told The Iraqi News Agency INA. "The accession was the result of solid and constructive consultations achieved by the economic diplomacy over the years to reach the stage of full membership of this European multilateral financing institution."
"This will enable our country to implement our priorities for sustainable economic development, in which EBRD is responsible for reconstruction and for promoting important aspects of Iraq's infrastructure," he said.
 
"The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is a multilateral development bank that used investment as a tool to help build market economies, was founded in 1991 and initially devoted to Eastern European transition countries that have shifted from central to market economies, The Bank has funded 5,035 projects from 1991 to 2020 with a total value of 120 billion euros in turnover, " he continued.

"The European Bank is particularly engaged in reconstruction and development in 38 countries in the South and East Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and is also financing large and small projects in a variety of sectors including public works, agribusiness, natural resources, infrastructure such as road projects, water and sanitation, and the digital and technological sector."
 
"Iraq's membership in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will represent a genuine European investment partnership in launching important strategic projects in our country, such as Iraq's Large Development Project (the Development Road), which is the project that will link the interests of Iraq and the Global South with Europe on the one hand, and the interests of Europe and Iraq with the Global South on the other hand,” he noted.
 
Earlier, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, said: “I am delighted to welcome Iraq as a member of the Bank. We are fully committed to engaging with the country. When the time comes, we are looking forward to starting work in Iraq, applying our expertise to developing its economy.”