OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2010. Representatives of the shareholders of the EBRD begin a six-day visit to Ukraine. The Board of Directors represents the Bank's 63 public shareholders, including 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, the European Union and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EBRD Board of Directors has to approve all country strategies, which define operational priorities in the region, as well as all individual projects before they are put into action, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

The visit will take the participants to the Ukrainian cities of Odessa, Nikolaev, Kakhovka, Zaporizhzhia and Dnepropetrovsk in the south and east of the country as well as the capital of Ukraine, Kiev. The directors are planning to see existing and prospective clients of the Bank in Ukraine including Euroterminal LLC, Nibulon, Chumak, Ukrenergo and Ukrplastic. During their stay the Board members will meet senior representatives of the national and regional authorities as well as representatives of the diplomatic and business communities and civil society.

Representatives of the Board in the delegation will be Suzanne Hurtubise, representing Canada and Morocco; Jan Willem van den Wall Bake, representing the Netherlands and Mongolia; Jari Koskinen, representing Finland, Norway and Latvia; Tatsuhiko Kasai, representing Japan; Vassili Lelakis representing the European Union; Kalle Killar, representing Estonia, Sweden and Iceland; Tom Hackett, representing the European Investment Bank; Laszlo Urban, representing Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Croatia; Francois Lefebvre, representing France and Igor Podoliev, representing Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.

Ukraine was among the countries hardest hit by the global crisis. The EBRD was the first IFI to establish an extensive country specific crisis management programme for Ukraine. It was implemented during 2009, delivering prompt, targeted and high quality support to the economy. As a result, in 2009 the EBRD set a new operational record in Ukraine - its annual business volume reached over USD1.5 billion (EUR1.1 billion) thorough 46 transactions, the highest ever result for the Bank since it began operating in the country in 1993.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest financial investor in Ukraine. As of 1 August 2010, it had committed over EUR5.27 billion through 203 projects.