BSTDB Annual Meeting in Istanbul Marks 20 Years of Operations
Press Release | 17-Jun-2019
On 16 June 2019, the Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) held its Annual Meeting under the Chairmanship of Mr. Bülent Aksu, Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance and BSTDB Governor for the Republic of Türkiye.
The Board of Governors evaluated the Bank’s operational activities and approved the 2018 financial statements. During the year, the Board of Directors approved 28 new projects for EUR 570 million, up 8.6% from 2017. Commitments increased 54%, as 30 operations amounting to EUR 620 million were signed. Disbursements grew nearly 46% over 2017, to EUR 574 million. This level of operational activity established new annual highs for the Bank, while profitability was maintained for the fourteenth consecutive year.
June 2019 marks BSTDB’s 20th anniversary of operations in the Black Sea region. Over the period, the Bank has disbursed over 5 billion euros to hundreds of private and public sector clients, supporting national economic policy priorities in member countries in key sectors of manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, transport, telecommunications, agriculture, and the financial sector. To finance those operations, the Bank has raised over 6 billion euros in international capital markets, in addition to its own capital resources. For many years, BSTDB has remained the best-rated institution in the Black Sea region and one of the top-rated in the Eastern and Central Europe.
The Board elected the Governor for Ukraine as Chairman of the Board of Governors. The Governors for the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Armenia were elected as Deputy Chairs, for a period of one year. Ukraine will host the next BSTDB Annual Meeting in June 2020.
On 17 June, BSTDB held a Regional Business Forum under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Türkiye. The Forum discussions focused on the economic policy priorities of member countries reflected in the Bank’s Strategy for 2019-2022. The objective was to define international best practices in bringing investments to regional infrastructure development and in using national currencies in development financing. The Bank’s partnership with leading Turkish business associations including the Turkish Banks Association, DEIK, TUSIAD, and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce assured a high attendance at the Forum by Turkish and international businessmen and investors who also had productive B2B meetings with BSTDB Bankers to discuss specific investment proposals.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. For information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org.
Press contact:
Haroula Christodoulou
Phone: +30 2310 290533
E-mail: cchristodoulou@bstdb.org
