EBRD Invites India Inc To Invest In Gulf and North Africa

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invited Indian companies to explore investment opportunities in Middle East and North Africa. The company made the announcement at an event organised by industry body ASSOCHAM.

“We are very interested in India for its knowledge and capability and our visit here is a message to say that we are ready to accompany you and be accompanied by you as well to markets where we can work together very well with a combination of technology, cost and other competitive advantages,” said Riccardo Puliti, Managing Director and head of Energy and Natural Resources of the multilateral development bank.
He further added, “On our side we are very-very open and are really pushing very much on India, so there is a good will to accompany you and stay together and the intention is to work together”.

Emphasizing on India’s role in the development of other economies, Puliti noted that the total value of the joint India-EBRD investments was around €800 million as of June 2014.

“India is an important source of foreign direct investment in the EBRD’s countries of operations. The EBRD contributed in these joint investments was about €630 million and the rest were from Indian companies in private sector specially in Russia, Turkey, Romania,” said Puliti.

Currently, the EBRD has nearly 12 Indian companies on board and wants more companies to join hands. The bank wants to primarily focus on four sectors, which include financial institutions, infrastructure in terms of transportation, energy and manufacturing and services.

At present, India is not a member of EBRD but the bank is already working with Indian companies regarding investments in its countries of operations.