Tbilisi hosts EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum

Top governmental officials from more than 60 countries, heads of international institutions, global decision-makers, corporate executives and staff from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are gathering in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi to consider a strategy for the EBRD regions for the coming years.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti will open the EBRD 24th Annual Meeting and Business Forum at Tbilisi Parliament building today.

The event will continue with the EBRD Board of Governors meeting and Discussion Panels on various issues including gender in business and investing in green infrastructure.

The EBRD’s economists will reveal today the new economic forecasts for the countries where EBRD works - which stretch from central and south Eastern Europe, through to the Caucasus and Central Asia and to the southern and eastern Mediterranean.

Georgia as the host will hold the country’s special investment outlook session today to give participants an understanding of the investment climate and the opportunities in Georgia.

This will be the first time the EBRD Annual Meeting is held in the Caucasus region and the EBRD President underlined that "Georgia is one of the most innovative of the more than 30 countries of operations where EBRD supports transition to free and open markets”.

"And that’s allowed the EBRD to introduce new investment instruments in Georgia before bringing them to other countries in our regions,” he said while announcing the meeting on May 7.

Watch the video below to see the final preparations before the EBRD 2015 Annual Meeting in Tbilisi.