TIRANA (Albania), November 1 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it signed a 5 million euro ($5.8 million) agreement with Albania’s Union Bank, under which the Albanian lender will be allowed to issue trade finance guarantees to back local businesses.
The agreement marks the return of the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) to Albania after almost 20 years, Charlotte Ruhe, EBRD Managing Director, Central and South-Eastern Europe, said in a statement.
The EBRD also said it will provide technical assistance to support the training of Union Bank staff working in the field of trade finance, expanding access to trade finance for Albanian businesses.
"A special emphasis will be put on the import of higher-performance technologies and services to support Albania’s transition to a green economy in line with the EBRD Green Economy Transition approach," EBRD said.
EBRD launched the TFP in 1999, aiming to promote foreign trade to, from and among the countries in which the bank invests. Through the programme, the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks and short-term loans to selected banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors. The programme currently includes 96 partner banks in 26 countries where the EBRD invests.
Union Bank, which began operations in 2006, has been focused on the banking needs of individuals and of small and medium-sized enterprises. Currently, the bank has total assets of some 350 million euro, the EBRD said.
The EBRD has invested more than 1 billion euro in Albania through almost 80 projects so far. The bank is active in all sectors of the economy, with a special emphasis on infrastructure, energy and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
($ = 0.85893 euro)