following the collapse of the soviet union in order to support the private sector and the transition of communist countries to world market economies. and so we finance projects. we expand loans to clients in the private sector, a bit of our activity also in the public sector, for example, in key infrastructure that will be important for the development of the market economy, private sector companies and so forth. and this makes you one of the right organisations, if you will, to help rebuild ukraine, then? yes, because ukraine has been one of our first countries of operation. we ve invested a lot in ukraine in the last 30 years. we are one of the most important, the most important, international investor in the country. before the war, we were investing something like 1 billion a year in the country, financing projects, but also providing policy support.
looking at how it can help is the european bank for reconstruction and development, known as the ebrd. it was set up to help rebuild central and eastern europe after the fall of communism in russia 30 years ago. so i ve come to its headquarters here in london to catch up with its president. 0dile renaud basso. thank you so much for your time. much appreciated. 0dile, can we start with this just for viewers around the world and perhaps the uninitiated? can you can you explain what the ebrd does? so the ebrd is a multilateral development bank with the government. as a shareholders, we have more than 70 countries being shareholders of the bank. and we ve been created in 1991 following the collapse of the soviet union in order to support the private sector and the transition of communist countries to world market economies. and so we finance projects.