Governors emphasise the Bank's role in key sectors

The Board of Governors of the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) held its fourth annual meeting on 9 April in Tallinn, Estonia, under the Chairmanship of Ivari Padar, Minister of Finance of Estonia.

At the meeting, the Board of Governors approved NIB’s annual accounts for 2007. NIB’s member countries will receive EUR 25 million as dividends for 2007.

The NIB Governors emphasised the role of the Bank as an international financial institution for its Nordic and Baltic member countries as well as for the whole Baltic Sea region. NIB’s pan-regional perspective and broad experience of both private and public sector financing puts the Bank in a good position to have a proactive role in promoting regional integration and development.

The Governors welcomed the recent initiative of the Bank to launch the EUR 500 million “Baltic Sea Environment Financing Facility” targeting the ecological restoration of the Baltic Sea and the EUR 1 billion “Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Facility” for supporting adaptation to climate change. These initiatives assign the Bank a leading role in the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan agreed within HELCOM and in the member countries’ efforts to tackle climate change.

The Governors also expressed their appreciation of the Bank’s active role in the cooperation within the Northern Dimension, in particular the initiative to launch a new partnership in transport and logistics.

NIB’s current operations put the Bank in a good position as a partnering institution and leading agent in relation to the EU Baltic Sea Strategy, which is being developed. The Board of Governors pledged the support of the Bank’s member countries in this respect.

The Board of Governors welcomed NIB’s interaction with the European Commission and cooperation with other international financial institutions active in the region and encouraged further steps to enhance this cooperation.

The Board of Governors, in which the member countries are represented at the ministerial level, appointed the Governor for Norway as its Chairman for the period 1 June 2008 to 31 May 2009.

NIB is a multilateral financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact
Mr Johnny Åkerholm, President & CEO, at +358 10 618 001, info (at) nib.int or Mr Jukka Ahonen, Director of Communications, at +358 10 618 0295,