Following a hiatus of some fifteen years, Hungarian attendees of the International Investment Bank (IIB) session on 4-5 June 2015 in Mongolia will again participate as representatives of a member state with full voting rights.

Hungary had been among the founders of the IIB, but due to insufficient transparency and operation the country had left the institution in 2000 but continued as an observer of the bank’s activities.

The IIB’s management structure and decision-making mechanism had over the past years been adapted to prevalent best practices and thus the bank has expanded dynamically. The fact that international credit rating agencies promoted the IIB to investment grade status last year is an indicator of the international recognition of the bank’s international reach and modernization achievements.

These changes had actuated the decision to have the former membership status renewed and this had enjoyed the full support of other IIB member countries. In November 2014, the IBB committee unanimously approved Hungary’s membership request. Hungary’s Parliament endorsed the country’s signing of the intergovernmental memorandum on the establishment of the IIB and its statutory documents by adopting Act XLI of 2015, and thus the ratification process has been concluded by Hungary.

Hungary has undertaken to contribute EUR 10 million each to the bank’s capital this year and next. Parallel to the that, the IIB is to re-activate the amount of EUR 20 million the country had paid in under the former membership. Thus, by the end of the process, the EUR 40 million of paid-in capital turns Hungary into one of the largest shareholders of the bank.

As Eximbank joined the club of export credit agencies created by the IIB in April 2014 under a Multilateral Memorandum of Cooperation will also facilitate practical partnership with the IIB.

(Ministry for National Economy)