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Impressions |
May 2005 |
EBRD conference. For us normal citizens, such events pass normally without any impact on our lives. Maybe some article on page 7 of our newspaper.
In Belgrade, this event gave notice of its existence nine month before, when the hotels told us to reserve rooms right away or being blocked out. 2800 delegates come to a city that has far less hotel rooms of western standard. And then, about 10 days ago, you could see some hectic activities going on, because Sava Center, what is our conference center, is in the same time shopping mall, language school, cinema and else. What disappeared was the sign on the entrance door "don't enter with your handgun". What came was furniture, paint and signage.
EBRD. For us western citizens, this means not much. Some remember that this was an initiative after the wall came down. Some struggle that was solved the European way with making a French the head of it and placing it to London. It stands for European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.
What it means for the citizens of the concerned countries is quite different. It could mean for a Serbian farmer somewhere in the South, that he can take out a loan of 250 Euro to buy some fertilizer. It could mean that some migrant worker in Tajikistan can take a plane and shuttle to Russia to work. It could mean that in Chisinau the city can buy some new busses. It does not mean that this costs money, because the bank (and the structures the bank invests in, for example in other local banks) shall be profitable. It might mean that less money is borrowed in Germany to someone who wants to finance his vacation in the Caribbean sea. But the risk of loosing its money is far lower in the first cases than for consumer loans in the western world.
What it means for Belgrade is that all the governors of the different national banks, and at this occasions most of the heads of the European banks, and the other top officials of the banks, and the investors, and the other important persons have a meeting. And this is a big recognition for this city which was in war just a few years ago.
What it means for us is to do some "booth duty", give information, meet people, learn new things. And specifically, learn about other Central and Eastern European countries and a little bit further. There are for example the countries close to the West. Slovenia with its 2 million inhabitants has a gross domestic product (GDP) 50 % higher than Serbia Montenegro with 10 million. But in Tajikistan, the GDP per capita is 257 US$, one tenth of Serbia and 1/100th of Germany. Or you learn that Kazakhstan attracts over 3 billion foreign direct investment, while Serbia attracted last year about 700 million.