Chakrabarti: EBRD will support Serbia

Chakrabarti: EBRD will support Serbia

What the EBRD needs to “look at both in the short and medium term is what help we can give to improve flood prevention and flood protection in Serbia, he said after the meeting.

Expressing condolences on behalf of the EBRD and his own behalf for the losses of human lives in the floods, Chakrabarti said he admires what Vučić and his colleagues in government are doing to ensure quick reconstruction in Serbia after days of catastrophic flooding.

Chakrabarti said that the EBRD will step up its efforts to make sure aid arrives in Serbia as fast as possible, and the first thing to do is establish priorities.

“The first thing to do is get a good sense of the needs in terms of reconstruction and there will be a donor meeting tomorrow and EBRD will be attending that,” he said.

Chakrabarti said that the EBRD also recognizes that many small businesses have been very badly hit by the floods.

Some of these firms may be existing EBRD clients, and the bank will “look at whether there are working capital needs amongst these firms and whether it can meet those needs very quickly,” he added.

“One particular area that should not be neglected is agriculture and agribusiness. Obviously, many farms have been very badly hit, fields have been flooded, animals drowned, crops damaged,” Chakrabarti said, adding that he would like the EBRD agribusiness team to take a look at what they “can do very quickly to get that sector up and running again."

“It is understandable, obviously, that both the efforts of the government and ourselves in EBRD are very much focused on the short and medium term issues about reconstruction after the floods.

“But together we also have to focus on the medium to longer term agenda of reform this government has already set out so bravely,” the EBRD president said.

Such cooperation is highly important as part of Serbia’s European integration process, said Chakrabarti.