* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Constantin Balaban, from Romania, wrote this blog after a visit to the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) HQ in London when he was taking part in 'Economic and Political Reporting from Southeast Europe' programme in London.
If you happen to be in London, near Liverpool Street Station, you might come across a massive sculpture representing a horizontally challenged person, as one might politely call the fat lady, which looks very much like ancient fertility idols.
Behind that sculpture is a modern building housing the headquarters of the EBRD. That name might mean nothing to an ordinary person but for an Eastern European it is the name of an important bank created to support the development of market economies in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism.
On Thursday, May 24, our group visited the Bank as part of our training.
We met Anthony Williams, head of media relations, Peter Sanfey, a lead economist in the office of the Chief Economist, and Jean Marc Peterschmitt, Managing Director, Central and South Eastern Europe at the EBRD.
Williams, a former Reuters journalist, explained that two important decisions were approved recently. First, EBRD Shareholders elected the UK's Sir Suma Chakrabarti as next president. Up till now the president of the EBRD was always a French or a German. Second, the approval of a 1 billion euro fund to kick-start investments in the Middle East and North Africa. As he explained the EBRD intends to apply in other countries things learned in Eastern Europe.
The visit was a good opportunity to talk to people with a good knowledge of Eastern Europe economies, as oppose to someone who doesn’t know the difference between Budapest and Bucharest.
Sanfey said that for this year the EBRD expects most countries in the region will register minimal growth at best. He pointed out structural reforms that need to be done in order to attract foreign investment and the need for regional cooperation to improve infrastructure.
To finish on a more personal note, one of my most important criteria for evaluating an institution is the quality of its public facilities (lobbies, hallways, elevators, restrooms, reception areas, etc). The EBRD ones were excellent.
