EBRD 2015 Annual Meeting in Georgia taking shape

Georgia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have penned an agreement that outlines the roles and responsibilities of each party ahead of the 2015 EBRD Annual Meeting.

The EBRD Annual Meeting will be held in Tbilisi from May 13-15, 2015.

The event will be the EBRD’s 24th Annual Meeting and the first time the conference will be held in the Caucasus region.

EBRD, who released the news today, said Georgia applied to host the event and was chosen in recognition of the country’s progress in the reform process. In addition, Georgia was a regional hub with significant potential in sectors like transport, infrastructure and energy.

Today’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding identified both parties’ responsibilities in terms of organising, planning and delivery of the Annual Meeting. Georgia and the EBRD expressed their commitment to a successful event, which was expected to bring up to 2,000 participants to Georgia.

"We are very pleased to sign this agreement today as it illustrates the excellent cooperation we are enjoying with the Georgian authorities,” EBRD Secretary General Enzo Quattrociocche said at the signing in Tbilisi.

"Preparations for this year’s Annual Meeting are making good progress and we are confident the event in May will be a big success for guests and the host,” he said.

Georgia’s Minister of Finance Nodar Khaduri, who is also EBRD Governor for Georgia, said: "It is a very important achievement that we succeeded with our application to host the EBRD Annual Meeting 2015 in Georgia.

It will be the first event of such a scale in the Caucasus region. We may proudly say that Georgia will be the epicentre of global importance in May 2015, giving us the opportunity of attracting investments of unprecedented significance”.

The EBRD Annual Meeting is the most important event in the annual cycle of the bank. A central part is the meeting of the Board of Governors, the Bank’s highest decision-making body, who will assess the bank’s performance and set future strategic directions.

The 2015 conference will also include an international business forum where business representatives, investors, government officials and media will gather and engage in panel discussions and networking events. In addition, the EBRD Annual Meeting also included a civil society program, a donors meeting and was complemented by auxiliary events.