ArmInfo. The Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has today re-elected Odile Renaud-Basso to serve a second term as the Bank's President.
As stated in a statement released by the EBRD, the election took place at the Bank's 2024 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Yerevan, Armenia.
Ms Renaud-Basso, who first became the Bank's President four years ago, received the double majority of votes required for election: of both the total number of Governors and of members' total voting power.
Ms Renaud-Basso said: "Leading the EBRD since 2020 has been an honour and privilege, given its vital role in so many different regions in an era of unprecedented geopolitical tension. "I would like to thank our shareholders for their support and trust over the last few years and again here in Yerevan. I will now strive to repay their confidence by delivering even more impact, further transforming the Bank and expanding cooperation with our partners."
Ms Renaud-Basso was first elected at the 2020 Annual Meeting, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Following this year's election for the role, the first in which a candidate has stood unopposed since 2008, Ms Renaud-Basso will be President until 2028.
Over the three full years of her first term, 2021, 2022 and 2023, the Bank invested ?36.6 billion in 1,308 projects.
Under her presidency, the Bank also responded to Russia's war against Ukraine by supporting the country and its real economy with more than ?4 billion of finance deployed since February 2022.
At the end of 2023 its Governors approved a ?4 billion capital increase to sustain investments in Ukraine at their current levels and increase volumes substantially when reconstruction starts in earnest, as well as to continue supporting all of the EBRD's other countries. The Bank has also invested at least half its annual business volume in the green economy every year for the last three years. As of the beginning of last year, the EBRD's new operations have been fully aligned with the Paris Agreement.
At last year's Annual Meeting in Samarkand the Bank's Governors agreed to a historic expansion of its operations into sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq.
The EBRD currently has 75 shareholders, the most recent to have joined being Benin, which became a member last month.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Armenia, investing around ?2.12 billion through 211 projects in the country to date. Ninety-two percent of those investments have been in the private sector.
