Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Nikolay Kosov, the International Investment Bank’s President, at the prime minister’s offices on Monday to discuss the establishment of the IIB’s HQ in Budapest.
According to MTI, Kosov briefed PM Orbán about the bank’s activities and future plans. IIB member states unanimously voted to relocate the bank’s headquarters to Hungary and authorized the bank to sign the relevant accord at a board meeting last December.
The bank’s headquarters are currently located in Moscow, and the European regional office is in Bratislava (Pozsony). The establishment of the headquarters in Hungary will strengthen Budapest as a financial center. There are five supranational development banks in the European Union, but none are based in the central European region.
“The IIB’s move to Budapest can be seen as a significant step forward,” Havasi said, noting remarks made at the meeting. The IIB is a multilateral intergovernmental development bank registered at the UN with the aim of promoting social and economic development, prosperity and economic cooperation in its member states.