Secretaries General and colleagues from across the international financial institutions (IFIs) community exchange experience on governance, Board effectiveness and the evolving role of Secretariats

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) hosted the 27th Annual Meeting of the Secretaries of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in Thessaloniki, bringing together Secretaries General and senior representatives from across the IFI community for peer exchange and discussion.

Opening the meeting in a recorded video message, BSTDB President Dr. Serhat Köksal welcomed participants and stressed the growing importance of cooperation among international financial institutions at a time when many of the challenges facing their member countries are increasingly interconnected.

"At BSTDB, we strongly believe that international financial institutions achieve more when they work together," Dr. Köksal said.

Discussions focused on Board effectiveness, the evolving role of Secretaries General, institutional continuity and communication between shareholders, Boards and Management. Participants compared approaches across institutions with different mandates, governance models and shareholder structures, and explored practical ways to strengthen cooperation and knowledge-sharing across the network.

Asterios Tsoukalas, Secretary General of BSTDB, said: "Good governance is not only about the decisions institutions take, but also about how those decisions are prepared, supported and carried through. Secretaries General and their teams play an important role in maintaining continuity between shareholders, Boards and Management, particularly when the environment becomes more complex. Bringing our colleagues together in Thessaloniki gives us a valuable opportunity to compare how we are dealing with those realities in practice and strengthen the way our institutions work together."

The wider programme began on 31 August with the IFI Annual Meeting Coordinators Forum and the Heads of Protocol Meeting. These sessions brought together colleagues responsible for annual meetings and protocol to exchange experience on event organization, sustainability, host-country coordination and other operational matters.

The Annual Meeting of IFI Secretaries has brought together international financial institutions since 2000, providing an established forum for peer exchange on governance, institutional practice and cooperation. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will host the meetings in 2027.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion.

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