Bancherul - BANCI / ENGLISH / EBRD Shareholders elect UK’s Sir Suma Chakrabarti as next President

The Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has elected Sir Suma Chakrabarti as President of the EBRD for the next four years, from July 3, 2012. He replaces Thomas Mirow, the President since 2008, said the bank in a statement.

Sir Suma, currently the most senior civil servant in the British Ministry of Justice, speaking on his election, said, “It's an honour to be elected President of the EBRD as it continues its outstanding work and as it rises to the challenges of the future. It is a huge privilege to follow on from Thomas Mirow and I want to congratulate him for everything he has achieved. The open, fair and merit-based process has been a credit to the Bank and to all the other candidates and I want to thank them for the excellent campaigns that they have run. I look forward to the great privilege that it will be to serve the EBRD, its shareholders and staff as we work to address the challenges that we face."

President Mirow congratulated his successor. "I wholeheartedly congratulate Sir Suma and wish him the best of luck. It has been a privilege and an honour to lead the EBRD over the past four years. I pay tribute to the Bank's staff who have put in such a strong performance during that time."

Sir Suma has long experience in international development economics and policy-making. Prior to taking his position at the Ministry of Justice he headed the UK’s Department of International Development. Sir Suma worked closely with economies undergoing substantial reform in eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and North Africa. He played a key role developing the UK's successful Know-How Fund for Central and Eastern Europe, set up in the early 1990s, and worked with the European Commission in improving its programmes in the Middle East and North Africa. After studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford, he took a Masters in Development Economics at the University of Sussex.