The International Investment Bank (IIB) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary today signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at mutually beneficial cooperation of the parties and the development of the country's relations with this multilateral development institution. The signing ceremony with the participation of the Chairman of the IIB Board, Nikolay Kosov, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, took place in Budapest during the meeting of the Hungarian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.

The Memorandum provides a basis for coordination of activities between the IIB and the Ministry in such areas as credit support for SMEs, implementation of export-import operations, investments and sustainable development financing. The parties agreed to provide priority assistance to socially oriented projects in Hungary and in other member states of the Bank.

The document offers a wide range of instruments to meet its objectives, including regular exchange of expertise, joint seminars and conferences and data monitoring on multilateral investment projects both in the IIB member states and in non-member countries. A bilateral meeting at the Ministry also took place after the signing ceremony, with parties discussing the outlined areas of future collaboration.

“The Memorandum further stimulates the Hungarian direction of IIB’s activities, which is significant in light of the country’s return the Bank's membership structure last year. After its additional contribution to IIB’s paid-in capital, Hungary is now the third largest shareholder of the IIB, and we intend to continue proactive cooperation with our Hungarian partners," – said Nikolay Kosov.

After a full-scale reform of the IIB, launched in 2012, and its transformation into a modern multilateral development institution, in 2015 Hungary returned to the Bank as one of its shareholders. Currently, the IIB is working on a number of potential projects with Hungarian borrowers, totalling up to EUR 50 million.

On June 22-24, 2016, Budapest holds the 105^th Meeting of the IIB Council – the highest governing body of the Bank – with the participation of member states’ delegations and the Bank’s Board. The agenda includes a review of IIB’s performance, ratification of the Bank’s new statutory documents by its member states and future strategic guidelines for IIB’s development. During the events of the 105^th IIB Council Meeting, on June 24 the business forum Supporting Economic Growth in Hungary and the CEE Region will bring together high-level representatives of governments, enterprises, commercial banks and international development institutions, both from Hungary and abroad.