§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What investments in south-east Europe have been approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and whether they will give the totals for future investment in each country, with examples of specific major projects. [HL917]
§ Baroness AmosIn 2002, the last year for which full figures are available, the EBRD invested 1.2 billion euros in 36 projects in south-eastern Europe. This brought the bank's cumulative investment in the region to 5.1 billion euros in 210 projects. These projects included support for privatisation, restructuring, small and medium-sized enterprises, and critical infrastructure projects such as road building. Details of all projects on a country by country basis are available on the bank's website atwww.ebrd.com. The full 2003 figures will be available later this year.
In the future, the bank aims to expand investment in the region and to continue its leading role under the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe in implementing private sector initiatives and in developing regional co-operation in infrastructure. Given that the EBRD's business is largely in the private sector and is therefore demand-driven, it is not possible to provide firm figures for future spend. However, the EBRD's individual country strategies for south-eastern Europe state the main areas of focus for the bank, and the majority of the strategies give an indication of the size of the project pipeline at the time 28WA of strategy approval (country strategies are available on EBRD's website). The bank also publishes project summary documents with information on upcoming projects on its website, for example a regional road development programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina.