The Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) held its 22nd Annual Meeting under the Chairmanship of Ukraine. BSTDB approved 32 new projects for over one billion Euro, an increase of nearly 87 percent over 2018 levels. New commitments (signed operations) rose 36 percent to the total of over 842 million Euro. Disbursements reached 872 million Euro, an increase of 52 percent over 2018. The Bank’s portfolio of operations at the year-end exceeded 1.85 billion Euro.

The Bank registered a net income for the 16th consecutive year, which the Board decided to allocate to the general reserve and surplus, to support the Bank’s operational activities.

The Board of Governors evaluated the Bank’s operational activities and approved the 2019 financial statements.  2019 was the first year of implementation of the BSTDB Medium-Term Strategy and Business Plan for 2019-2022 aimed to substantially expand operational activity and development impact of the Bank’s operations. During the year, the Bank exceeded its business targets and achieved record levels of new operational activity

The Board resolved that the Republic of Albania will hold the Chairmanship of the Board of Governors for the BSTDB 23rd Annual Meeting in 2021. The venue and the date of the 2021 Annual Meeting will be determined in due time.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries.