The First Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Phil Bennett, will visit Mongolia to meet with the new government and the business community, and to mark the Bank’s 10th anniversary of investing in the country.
Mr Bennett will be in Ulaanbaatar from 26-28 September, where he will discuss the Bank’s upcoming strategy for investing in the country, the Bank’s current work and the pipeline of potential projects.
Mr Bennett, who is in charge of the EBRD’s banking operations, will meet the newly elected government to discuss the directions of future EBRD work in Mongolia. Since the start of its operations in 2006, the EBRD has invested €1.4 billion in the country, almost entirely in private sector development. The Bank is currently considering broadening its scope of investment to the municipal and transport infrastructure sectors.
“In these short 10 years, the EBRD has become the largest institutional investor in Mongolia. From mining and microfinance to green energy, we have made a mark in many sectors. I am looking forward to new possibilities and partnerships as Mongolia is opening up again to investment and business,” said Mr Bennett.
On Tuesday 27 September, the EBRD will gather its partners, clients and representatives of business and diplomatic communities to celebrate both the 25th anniversary of the EBRD and the 10th anniversary of its operations in Mongolia.
During his visit, Mr Bennett is also expected to sign the EBRD’s second wind farm project, Tsetsii. The wind farm will be co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and built by a joint venture between Mongolia’s Newcom and Japan’s SoftBank.
This will be Mr Bennett’s second visit to Mongolia as the EBRD’s First Vice President. He also visited the country a number of times before joining the Bank.
The EBRD’s Advice for Small Business (ASB) team arrived in Mongolia in 2001, five years ahead of banking operations. With donor support, ASB have provided business advice to 500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to date.