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EBRD ready to help Belarus implement projects in transport industry

MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is ready to help Belarus implement interesting projects in the transport industry, Head of the EBRD Office in Belarus Alexander Pivovarsky said at a plenary session on promising areas of development of transport and logistics systems which is held within the framework of the Belarusian Transport Week, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Pivovarsky noted that the bank finds it easy to work with Belarus that has considerable experience of cooperation with international organizations. Moreover, Belarus is a country with a relatively low level of corruption. “This is why international organizations like the EBRD view Belarus as a promising  market for cooperation,” Aleksandr Pivovarsky  said. “If you have any interesting ideas in the transport industry, we will always be willing to discuss them,” he added.

Since the EBRD began working in Belarus in 1992, the bank has invested nearly €2.46 billion in over 100 projects implemented in various branches of the national economy. Most of the investment was attracted in less than ten years. “We carry out around 10 billion transactions a year. Last year, Belarus exceeded all our expectations and hit €360 million in the EBRD investment, making it into the top ten most active countries in terms of transactions in 2018,” Aleksandr Pivovarsky said.

At present, the EBRD portfolio in Belarus totals around €800 million, a quarter of which consists of investment in municipal and road infrastructure. Speaking about the most interesting projects in road and transport infrastructure, Aleksandr Pivovarsky mentioned the investment project with the Stadler Minsk company (investment made up around €30 million in 2013-2016), and the project to renovate the P80 motorway which attracted over €40 million in investment.

The bank also took interest in the public-private project to renovate the M10 motorway. The first stage of the project has been finished: the project has received bids from potential investors. “This year, we plan to sign another large-scale project to renovate several bridges all over Belarus and to help finance renovation of the M3 motorway between Minsk and Vitebsk. This will be the largest infrastructure project for the EBRD in Belarus worth around €240 million,” Aleksandr Pivovarsky said.

The EBRD is an international bank, which facilitates the development of the private sector and entrepreneurship initiative in 38 economies on three continents. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest institutional investor in the Belarusian economy.

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