The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have made major investments in the countries of the Caucasus, Central Asia and in Russia. Since 1995, BIC’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Program has been working to improve the lending policies of IFIs in the region and to ensure that the projects they finance serve the interests of local populations.
Multilateral development banks have approved more than US$4 billion in loans for Kazakhstan, more than US$3.4 billion for Azerbaijan, and US$ 925 million for the Kyrgyz Republic since 1994. Russia has been the largest borrower in the region: the World Bank has approved US$14 billion in loans for 61 projects; the International Finance Corporation, $US 2.5 billion for 120 projects, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, US$7.2 billion for 251 projects.
BIC's ECA Program emphasizes measures to improve the transparency of revenues and investment contracts in extractive industries financed by the IFIs and to minimize the adverse environmental and social consequences of such projects. A major focus of the ECA Program’s work in the region is building capacity among local civil society organizations to participate more fully in decision making on IFI activities.
BIC’s work in the region focuses on the activities of the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank.