Under the terms of the agreement, international engineering federation FIDIC has granted the EBRD a non-exclusive licence to refer to the nine major FIDIC contracts for projects they finance and the documents may be used as part of the bank’s standard tender documents.

The contracts include the latest 2017 Second Edition FIDIC contracts and 1999 editions, which cover a wide range of international construction and infrastructure work and EBRD signing the agreement represents another significant endorsement for FIDIC contracts from a major international funding organisation, following similar agreements signed with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Caribbean Development Bank in recent months.

FIDIC chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said: “This is a landmark development for FIDIC and the EBRD. It’s a major step because not only has the bank agreed to promote the use of FIDIC contracts in their country of operation, they have indicated their interest to enter into an agreement with FIDIC to provide certified training on FIDIC contracts on a project-by-project basis in their ever-increasing countries of operation.

“We are delighted to discuss this new relationship with EBRD to support their capacity building efforts and provide technical assistance and quality training.”

Jan Jackholt, the director for the procurement policy and advisory department at the EBRD, said: “Whilst the bank’s procurement policy enables clients of the bank to use any recognised international form of contract, the reality is that the FIDIC forms of contracts are the most widely used forms of contracts in our countries of operations.

“We are very pleased that we now have an agreement that enables the bank to align its standard tender documents with various FIDIC contracts which makes it easier to ensure that also other policies of the bank like the environmental and social policy and the enforcement policy are adequately covered.

“We are also pleased about the dialogue in regard to capacity building which hopefully can lead to a programme for better support to clients and consultants in the appropriate use of FIDIC contracts.”

New FIDIC president Bill Howard added: “I’m delighted to see this move by the EBRD, which builds on my predecessor Alain Bentejac’s excellent work with the international funding institutions.

“Strengthening FIDIC’s relationships with the banks and the international funding institutions will enhance our efforts to establish a new dedicated committee to address and coordinate FIDIC’s engagement with the financial institutions that will benefit the whole industry. I look forward to a mutually productive relationship with EBRD and the other multilateral development banks over the coming years.”