OREANDA-NEWS. Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) signed the Collaboration Arrangement relating to the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) Partnership Programme. The document was executed by Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB, and Bertrand BadrЁ¦, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer.

The GIF will be an open global platform aiming at leveraging the efforts of the wide range of institutions currently engaged in supporting EMDE infrastructure with the participation of private infrastructure investors, coalescing around project preparation, structuring, and risk mitigation for individual infrastructure investments. The objective of the GIF will be to pool resources necessary to find solutions to significant infrastructure tasks in these countries and to implement large and complex projects with the prospective involvement of private capital.

The GIF intends to provide resources to prepare well-structured infrastructure projects, and to serve as an additional mechanism for accessing the expertise of all GIF partners, in combination with guidance from prospective private sector financiers into project structures.

In their Collaboration Arrangement EDB and the WBG agreed to take measures to develop cooperation in establishing the GIF. This work will involve, in particular, the determination of management options, operating mechanisms, areas of operation, and sources and uses of the GIF funds, including project selection criteria. The parties also agreed to coordinate their efforts in this area and to share best practices and their experience in preparing infrastructure projects.

"EDB's joining to the GIF as a consulting partner is of long-term and strategic importance," says Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB. "This partnership will make it possible for the Bank to access the expertise of the world's leading financial institutions in the area of infrastructure finance and the facility to avail itself of EDB's rich experience in the region."