(RFE/RL)
May 21, 2007 -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) opened its annual assembly on May 20 in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
Bank officials say the location of the meeting is symbolic of the EBRD's desire to move away from Central Europe and toward the Balkans, Central Asia, Russia's regions, and Mongolia.
The EBRD was founded in 1991 to assist former communist countries make the transition to market economies.
Bank officials are to discuss today how to distribute some $3.2 billion in loans.
(AFP, Reuters)