Black Sea Bank to invest up to 100 mln euros

TIRANA, Feb. 8 – The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has announced it will invest 50 to 100 million euros in the next four years in Albania. In a conference on Tuesday, bank representatives said the 2011-2014 strategy on Albania will focus on investments in different sectors focusing on energy and infrastructure as well as support to commercial banks.
During the past three years, the BSTD has committed 45 million euros to support the Turkish-run Kurum steel plant and fixed-line operator Albtelecom.
The bank has also supported private initiative in the health sector.
BSTDB was established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine which are the 11 founding countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) as a financial pillar of BSEC. Since 1999, BSTDB cumulative portfolio in its 11 member countries reached 220 operations in the key sectors of infrastructure, energy, transport, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial sector and other important areas to the total amount of over USD 2.8 billion.