EBRD annual meeting makes no decisions important for Estonia

  • 2000-05-25
TALLINN (BNS) - The annual meeting of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development which ended May 22 in Riga made no
decisions important for Estonia, but participating Estonian officials
had several interesting meetings, Finance Ministry Deputy Chancellor
Martin Poder said.

Poder said that even though no concrete landmarks or achievements
connected with the EBRD meeting can be named, several seminars and
meetings took place in its framework which gave Estonia the opportunity
to introduce itself and explain its standpoints.

"There were quite a few meetings with representatives of large
commercial banks of the world, all of which would be interested in
lending money to Estonia as our sovereign rating is pretty good and the
foreign debt low," he said.

Although Estonia at present has no need to borrow, contacts have to be
maintained because such need may sometime arise, he observed.

Finance Minister Siim Kallas had a businesslike and interesting dinner
with Pedro Solbes, European Commissioner for economic and monetary
policy, at which exchange rate strategies and the pace of adopting the
euro by aspirants for European Union membership were discussed, the
chancellor said.

The EBRD, established in 1991 to help the Central and East European
countries in transition, has invested a total of 15 billion euros in
the region and made loans to the tune of 37 billion euros.