May 17 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it reaffirms its support for the European integration of the Western Balkan countries.
"[Our] approach to the Western Balkans is simple: it is to deliver ‘even more Europe," EBRD president Suma Chakrabarti said in a speech at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, according to a press release issued by the bank.
EBRD said it has invested more than 10.6 billion euro ($12.49 billion) in the region, which comprises six countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
"We have invested more per capita in the region than anywhere else," Chakrabarti pointed out.
The EBRD is currently investing around 1 billion euro each year in the Western Balkans region. One of the bank’s priorities is infrastructure development to foster economic growth in the region and connect the countries closer with each other and with Europe.
"The connectivity agenda we pursue, under the [European] Commission’s leadership, has allowed many important regional transport and energy projects to take off," Chakrabarti said.
Last week EBRD signed a loan agreement with Albania for the rehabilitation of the railway section between the cities of Tirana and Durres and the construction of a new railway link from the Tirana-Durres line to Tirana International Airport.
The Western Balkans Summit in Sofia was chaired by the president of the European Council Donald Tusk, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Bulgaria’s prime minister Boyko Borissov, whose country is currently holding the rotating EU presidency.