The President of the European Bank for Recon-struction and Devel-opment (EBRD) Sir Suma Chakrabar-ti, paid a visit to Taipei on 18th and 19th March, where he met with President Ma Ying Jeou and other figures in Taiwanese business and politics. These included, Minister of Foreign Affairs David L.Y. Lin, President and CEO of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) Peter W.J. Huang, and chairman of the Export Import Bank of the Republic of China (Eximbank) Robert Rueen-Fong Chu.
During the visit Sir Suma signed an MoU with Eximbank which will generate more opportunities for cofinancing projects in the EBRD’s regions of investment whilst also increasing cooperation between the two banks.
Taiwanese businesses are an important source of foreign direct investment for the EBRD, which was established to help eastern European coun-tries develop strong market economies. As of Jan-uary 2015, the value of joint Taiwanese invest-ment in the EBRD stood at €260 million helping develop over 270 projects in a number of sectors, ranging from sustainable resource management to EBRD small business support and many more.