The Chairman of the EBRD’s Board of Governors, Italy’s Pier Carlo Padoan, has congratulated the Bank on the 25th anniversary of its founding
The end of the Cold War was an epochal moment and the EBRD has played a key role in the transformation and the strengthening of the economies of the former Communist bloc. I felt a sort of enthusiasm for this endeavour; a Bank for people with new aspirations. People who wanted to change their life; to be the masters of their own life. The fulfilment of such aspirations became the mission, the raison d’être of the newly created EBRD. A bank in its mechanics, European in its original soul, but universal in its composition: during the last 25 years, this institution has worked tirelessly to help reconstruct and develop economies in a growing number of nations. Beginning with just eight nations, they have now grown to 36.
Perhaps one of the biggest achievements to which the EBRD can lay claim was to assist those nations forge a new identity, meanwhile redefining its own, adapting to the evolving nature of the world, accepting new challenges with dynamism and learning from past experiences and drawbacks. And to be ready when history called upon the Bank to extend its activities to the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean
