In October International Investment Bank (IIB), jointly with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and two Czech ministries - finance and industry and trade offered a unique opportunity for all exhibiting companies as well as for visitors of the International Engineering fair in Brno (Czech Republic) to get a detailed information about their credit products and services at a seminar named “Financing Opportunities Offered by International Banks”. The aim of this event was to increase awareness about international financial institutions operating in the area of Central and Eastern Europe and about ways how they support business projects. “One of the specifics of us, international development banks, is that we do not necessarily position ourselves as competitors against each other, but rather as potential partners that can team-up for interesting and strategically significant national or international projects”, director of the IIB´s European Regional Office in Bratislava Igor Barát said in his presentation. He pointed out, that companies, mainly SMEs, from the CCE region can benefit from various financing schemes, being granted not necessarily just by one institution, but also by a club or a consortium of them, what “can bring much more flexibility in responding to client´s real needs and result in the best possible financing structure”, I. Barát explained. He also highlighted IIB´s growing focus on supporting green projects and sustainable development in general, in the bank´s member states, namely renewables, modern waste management, clean technologies etc.

Anton Strigunkov, Deputy Director of the IIB Legal Department took part in a symposium in Paris organized by International Finance Corporation and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for IFIs titled “MDBs and Privacy – Evolving Strategies”.

The representatives of main development institutions discussed the challenges faced by IFIs in light of GDPR and evaluated the approaches to effectively addressing such challenges. Among the participants were World Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, Nordic Investment Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, European Stability Mechanism, Council of Europe Development Bank.

“It was a great event, very useful from a practical point of view – underlined Anton Strigunkov, а lot of interesting ideas were shared and discussed. I am truly grateful to the organizers - IFC and EBRD who did such a fantastic job”.