Last year the EBRD invested 1.1 billion euros in the Russian economy.
In the current year and in the near future the bank intends to "move in the south-east direction," i.e., to step up its investment activity in Russia, in Ukraine - the countries which show the highest rates of economic growth among the Central European states, the EBRD head said.
According to Lemierre, the driving force behind the economic growth are the reforms carried out in Russia and high prices for energy carriers and raw materials on the world market.
He also noted that the EBRD is, as before, interested in acquiring shares of Vneshtorgbank. "We conducted active talks on this issue with Vneshtogbank and Russia's previous government," he said and we intend to hold talks on the same issue also with the new government." In particular, as Jean Limierre surmises, much with regard to acquiring the shares of Vneshtogrbank by the EBRD can become clear already next week during the London meetings planned with Russia's Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin and Chairman of Vnesghtogbanlk Andrey Kostin.