following the manchester concert attack that left 22 people dead and many injured. britain's prime minister theresa may has warned that a further terror attack could be imminent. she also announced that soldiers will be deployed to protect key sites. the suicide bomber has been named as salman abedi, a 22—year—old born in manchester. he was of libyan origin and was a student at the nearby university of salford. the islamic state group has published a statement on social media saying one of its supporters carried out the attack. thousands of people have gathered for a vigil in manchester city centre in memory of those who died. a minute's silence was held as crowds spilt out on to nearby roads. greater manchester chief constable ian hopkins thanked "the rest of the world for holding us in their thoughts." now on bbc news, it's time for

hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. do you remember the tumultuous events in the early 19905 in eastern europe? from the soviet empire, a more prosperous region emerged anchored in the eu and nato. the european bank for reconstruction and development was created to foster that transformation. my gue5t todayi5 foster that transformation. my gue5t today is the president, sir suma chakrabarti. today is the president, sir suma chakra barti. the5e today is the president, sir suma chakra barti. these days, today is the president, sir suma chakrabarti. these days, many of his investment projects are actually in turkey, central asia, and north africa. has mi55ion creep undermined the values of the ebrd. sirsuma

sir suma chakrabarti, sir suma chakra barti, welcome sir suma chakrabarti, welcome to hardtalk. it is nice to be would you agree with me that your bank has moved an awful long way from those early days and from its original mission? i would early days and from its original mission? iwould not. iwould certainly agree with you that we have expanded geographically, but the mission is the same. private sector development, the creation of effect of markets. but because of the success of the business model, we decided we should expand to central asia and africa, as you said. it is a sign of success, not mi55ion creep. said. it is a sign of success, not mission creep. the problem with that i5 mission creep. the problem with that is that from the beginning, you were a financial institution underpinned bya a financial institution underpinned by a clear statement of values. in

the places you have just outlined where you operate today, tho5e values do not seem to be applied in the same way. sometimes there are value5, the same way. sometimes there are values, such as political, democratic, values, pluralism, like 5tated. they are certainly applied inconsistently. i am not talking about the way they are applied in the country, but with those projects in those countries. that is not correct. we have strong diligent 5tandards correct. we have strong diligent standards and our actions are very, very clear we apply tho5e throughout oui’ very clear we apply tho5e throughout our projects. let us talk about 5pecific5. you are big in central asia the5e 5pecific5. you are big in central asia these days. azerbaijan. can you tell me that article one of your charter which commits the bank to applying the principles of multi—party democracy, pluralism, economics, how can that possibly be applied to an economy and a body

politic like azerbaijan? we say when we do our strategies, and they are coming forward this year, we look at the 14 coming forward this year, we look at the 1a point criteria. in some ca5e5, azerbaijan will find itself short. we don't actually make a hard and fastjudgement because every country is on a scale are essentially. what we have said about azerbaijan in the past is that they apply principles, though not perfectly. i am not sure that is right. i don't know if you bothered reading the independent human rights reports, but they recently said they are systematically dismantling the country's independence and society. your first article, your adherence to multi—party democracy, pluralism, market economics, ifail

to multi—party democracy, pluralism, market economics, i fail to see how two of those statements can fit together. i would argue azerbaijan has had problems. i would say it is thejob of me has had problems. i would say it is the job of me and has had problems. i would say it is thejob of me and my has had problems. i would say it is the job of me and my team has had problems. i would say it is thejob of me and my team to has had problems. i would say it is the job of me and my team to take theseissues the job of me and my team to take these issues up with them and we do that. but also in the last few yea rs, that. but also in the last few years, it is apparent that a number of him and rights advocates have been released from jail in azerbaijan. it is less corrupt than 2-3 azerbaijan. it is less corrupt than 2—3 years ago. azerbaijan. it is less corrupt than 2-3 years ago. forgive me, but on the fourth of may 2017, the bloomberg financial news agency quoted you on the subject of azerbaijan saying this, a direct quote, progress in the last year or so quote, progress in the last year or so has stopped, really. quote, progress in the last year or so has stopped, reallylj quote, progress in the last year or so has stopped, really. i think so. i think that is an accurate quote. the context of the last five years, azerbaijan has moved in the right direction, though in the last year, there has been some stalling. let us get this correct, you are giving hundreds of millions of euros to azerbaijan, with particular investment into the oil and gas

industry, including the corridor. you have done that for several yea rs, you have done that for several years, and you are telling you that you are years, and you are telling you that you a re overtly years, and you are telling you that you are overtly and exquisitely believed that in the last year progress has sold. —— explicitly. believed that in the last year progress has sold. -- explicitly. in some areas only. it has continued in the fight against corruption, where they have made major progress in the last few years, in fact. they are a benchmark, actually. in terms of human rights and other areas, we will have a dialogue over that. be frank with me, what do you think the impact is on, for example, the president himself, of you and your people in the country consistently giving the azerbaijan country more investment capital? what does it send to him? we work directly with the private sector in azerbaijan. in the private sector in azerbaijan. in the oil and gas... your investment is in that. yes. but the majority of

projects are actually outside the oil and gas sector. a proportion of your overall spending, how much goes into the oil and gas sector? yes, it isa into the oil and gas sector? yes, it is a large per cent... yes. but in terms of projects... the capital flows are measured ultimately by, you know, frankly, where the money goes, and most goes to the oil and gas sector. it is notjust a point of view frankly propping up a regime which many in the world believe is aces danic human rights abuser, but also one of the key pillars of your mission, you say, is to aid and abet the transformation of economies to a much more sustainable model. —— systemic. yet azerbaijan and a lot of other countries, your key investments, or in the age old oil and gas sector. it is fundamental to these economies. look at others,

collect and, russia in the past. —— kazakhstan. you want to help them develop. you talk about transformation, developing a new sustainable economic model. i see not how that works. not all of our money goes into the oil and gas sector. lots of our projects are not. they are in other sectors, trying to diversified the economy and raise the share of gdp not for oil and gas. —— diversify. 0therwise they will be in a cycle of oil and gas driving everything. they will be in a cycle of oil and gas driving everythinglj they will be in a cycle of oil and gas driving everything. i wonder if you learned a very painful lesson in 2014. as i understand it, in 2014, despite your beginnings in eastern europe, you act to put your biggest single lump of money and investment

into russia. —— actually. in 2014, the wheels fell off, because russia invaded crimea, annexed it, and as a result, the europeans and americans slapped sanctions on russia, and you we re slapped sanctions on russia, and you were told you had to stop all investment activity in russia. did that teach you something? well, what it told us is of course politics does play a part, i think in in —— institution. i remember tiananmen square and the world bank at that time is well. it does play a role. —— as well. it gives an opportunity to diversify into other countries, like north africa. you learned your lesson from investing, some would argue, far too much of your capital into vladimir putin's russia at a time when nobody, i think, would try to argue he was upholding the principles back to good old article one about market economics and so

on. none would say he was filling those objectives. but you tell that money after you were told he could no longer invest there and you put it into countries in central asia and north africa which again do not come even close to meeting your own founding principles. —— told you could. in 2012, december, 2012, that was approved. that had political assessment in it. there was a lot of to and fro, of course, with moscow over that. 2012. you were telling yourself that, yes, vladimir putin's russia ticks all the boxes, fully free market economics, pluralism, multi—party democracies to be that was a terrible judgement. -- democracy. it is not exactly our rentjudgement. what has happened since in russia, yes, ifeel if we did a new strategy for russia they

would be a much more testing conversation, i suspect so, because of what has happened in russia. going back to lessons learned, one of the other countries, and, again, correct me if i am wrong, it is now the biggest single city of ebr investments, is turkey. that is right. the largest market right now. are you confident that turkey, under president erdogan, is going in the right direction, one that fulfils all the criteria for the first article of your mission? that is why you have to look at progress over a long period to be if you look at russia and what we were doing the russia, and i will come to turkey in a minute, we were investing 90% in the private sector, in the automotive sector built up i ebrd. we were not working directly with the state. in turkey, it is 98% of oui’ the state. in turkey, it is 98% of our investment in the private

sector. more policy reform. renewables, capital markets, those kinds of things. we are not working directly with the government on very much. i would put this to you as a result of our conversation. the more you tell me about the long—term commitment you have made in countries like russia in the past. you still have some investments there. and turkey today. my response is you have been there for the long—term, you have tried to persuade yourself and the outside world that this kind of economic engagement and investment result in a transition to a more democratic and more free, both politics and economy, there. but the proof in the pudding is that doesn't. look at turkey and its direction of travel today. turkey is difficult. no one denies that. that is why this year, many investors, foreign and direct, they are trying to do what we are trying to do... sorry to interrupt, but how much do you think you invest

in turkey this year? i cannot say for sure, but between 1.3 and 1.5 billion euros. it will still be the largest market without a doubt because of the size of the economy. but it has been 1.9 billion. that is a light. they fear it is rapidly going down a spiral of authoritarianism. —— a lot. going down a spiral of authoritarianism. -- a lot. the private sector in support of reform and reaching people who cannot get access to finance, like freelance wa nt of access to finance, like freelance want of a nurse and other agency would be denied that finance. the year, —— did you, when we talk about renewable technology and solar panels and all about, again, when one looks at a case study like mongolia, where you are working with a huge corporate like rio tinto on a copper and goldmine, do you feel

that rather than transition economies, you arejust that rather than transition economies, you are just making them extra ct economies, you are just making them extract more and more value out of what ultimately finite commodity —based sectors? what ultimately finite commodity -based sectors? i started in botswa na, -based sectors? i started in botswana, another mineral—rich country. the issues are similar in mongolia. there are people wanting to invest. there are challenging politics with the share of revenue in particular. we talk about rio tinto and others in the government. we achieved a good result because we also brought in new investors with that investment in the mine. it was a progressive approach. another point about the way the bank operates and those who receive your investment capital. in recent years,

you have invested in a series of projects in serbia, i think in other parts of the balkans, romania is another example. you have offered a significant investment, the projects you have looked at have been mired in allegations of corruption, kickbacks, bribes. what due diligence do you do? extremely strong. commercial banks cannot achieve our home loan rates. less than 1% of any project in any year of approved projects go through that mechanism. if you look at the universe of projects we look at every year, universe of projects we look at every yea r, we universe of projects we look at every year, we often reject because of integrity standards, social standards. we take all that out before we go to... in these cases, the serbian and romanian examples, another coal power plant that has

been under allegations of corruption, how did this get through? they have to go through strong compliance mechanisms. 0ur environmental and social officers would check these out. that is not to say that maybe one or two projects, afterwards, things come to light. we act on those things. two hydro projects, one in croatia and one in macedonia. we have actually cancelled the loans, because the biodiversity impacts were such that they were not right to go ahead with. it is not as if we don't care about these questions, we do. there is an after—care issue as well. trying to put this in a bigger picture context, we have talked about the origins of the bank. investing capital through a bank which has, as its members, europeans and a number of other shareholders, that you could nurture and foster

free market capitalism and democratic values, and that your work would herald a new era. it seems to me, in some ways, thatjob has pretty much been done. if you look across eastern europe, most countries are anchored in the eu, and those who aren't are desperately trying to get in. that is why it seems to me that you are desperately scratching around for new places you can invest money, and make money, and you are compromising on the core beliefs that the institution began with. i would of course reject that. starting with the traditional countries we started with in eastern europe. you then have advanced very well over the last 25 years. some are members of the eu and nato. if the transitionjob are members of the eu and nato. if the transition job done? is are members of the eu and nato. if the transitionjob done? is it com pletely the transitionjob done? is it completely finished ? no. the transitionjob done? is it completely finished? no. a number of areas such as completely finished? no. a number of areas such as energy completely finished? no. a number of areas such as energy efficiency still remain. i think there is a lot

of work to do there. in the areas of taking equity from companies, companies in poland and other countries, they could become regional champions and hopefully global overtime. those are things that are part of our mission. yes, the challenge is diminishing, in the balkans, they aspire to be in the eu, some areas. we want to help them be credible members of the eu, using the approximation process which helps them. a lot of our shareholders think that this pushed on creating effective markets has been very successful and it should been very successful and it should be taken elsewhere. it is the concept that the business model matters more than geography to many of our shareholders. yes, taking it elsewhere, looking eastward, does it sit confidently with you that china is now actually a shareholder? yes

it is. it sits very confidently with me. how do you think they relate to article one of your charter? article one applies to borrowing and china is not a borrower. if they are a shareholder, they clearly wield some sort of influence. they are one of 67 shareholders. in terms of its weight, it is perhaps more... china is very important for our region, central asia and other regions. china is also important, ebrd is also important to the chinese model so that they can take you to their own banks. i can see that you are very aware that they are now rivals in the international multi lending sphere. i don't think they are rivals. they have their own

international infrastructure in beds and bank... is not their own. is based in beijing. he would not quibble whether they decide their own strategy. yes i would. we helped set it up. we were the last multilaterally created bank. they asked for our help on governance, appraisal standards, environmental and social standards. they have pretty much developed what the older models have used. i don't think the chinese run this on their own. you are talking about shareholders who own about 25%, quite sizeable. we have financed projects... own about 25%, quite sizeable. we have financed projects. . ij own about 25%, quite sizeable. we have financed projects... i know, thank you for reminding me. you are working with them in some countries we have discussed in central asia. the chinese want to develop their economic powers, some people call it

the new silk road. you are now involved in road, rail and infrastructure projects with the chinese. some would say you are doing their bidding. we are involved with the asian infrastructure investment bank, i don't think you would be calling the united states world bank ‘5... would be calling the united states world bank 's. .. it is would be calling the united states world bank 's... it is somewhat different. i would just point out the inconsistency. this is not a chinese lead banker. they have a chinese lead banker. they have a chinese president hu is the largest shareholder, but they have 77 other shareholders. we will incur finance with them in central asia, we had already done some. but we will do our appraisals and due diligence. i think it is a win—win situation for the region. the point about the way it the chinese do business, not getting stuck on the argument about whether the chinese are... they don't make value judgements.

repeating your article one mission to apply the principles of multi—party democracy, pluralism and economics, that is the sort of value based submission that the chinese don't recognise. the world bank doesn't either. many banks don't. i don't see why this is just about the chinese. they are not the only bank... is about the fact that you have compromised, as you have sought to expand your markets, whether you have compromised your baseline principal. i don't think we have. we apply those principles for central asian countries and all other countries. we go through these criteria in great detail. a lot of public consultation as well with lots of societies and organisations. i don't think we have compromised, we are rather transparent about it. a final thought on the international context. in the early 19905, the west thought they had won the sort

of values battle, and the economic battle and that liberal democracy and free markets were the way the world was going to go, and that free markets would propagate those western visions of how the world economy should work. things look a bit less clear now, not least with donald trump talking the language of protectionism while the chinese appear to be the greatest defenders of open borders and free trade. does the current political climate make it more difficult for you, particularly as western governments seem particularly as western governments seem to be more economically nationalist? i think what has happened is after the event for us. a few years ago, before some of the political changes in the west as you described, we were already seeing that many other countries we worked with, yet globalisation was successful in everyone out of poverty, or large chunks of people. relativity had western force but he

had growing inequality, take turkey. if you judge them on the basis of istanbul, you get a false reading. go to suburbs and you will see. talk to female entrepreneurs who can't get finance. also things were before the changes from donald trump and the changes from donald trump and the brexit referendum. what we saw was that globalisation was not working for everyone. inequality was becoming an issue. we published reports on this and we had a strategy to wrap this up. we have 16 women in business programmes in 16 different countries. helping female entrepreneurs getting access to finance. we try to tackle youth unemployment in many countries, one of the byproducts of the age we are living in. it is dangerous socially, politically, economically. we are trying to match what firms and companies want with the education sector. are you saying that

globalisation in its worst sense doesn't work? i have thought that for some time. my view is that you have got to make globalisation work better. it has got to have an inclusive agenda. suma chakrabarti, we have to end there, but thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you. thanks very much indeed. hello there. tuesday was a predominantly dry day with the heart of the country seeing the best of the sunshine. if we look at the weather watcher's picture from herefordshire, this illustrates the point nicely. there was cloud topping and tailing the country in the cloud, but enough for outbreaks of showery rain in the far

north west of scotland. this is how we closed out the day yesterday with cloud and rain in the north and a little cloud lingering down to the south—west and that will still be with us first thing this wednesday morning. some coastal and some sea fog here. it will be quite a warm start, however, to the day. mid teens already and so temperatures are set to lift as we go through the morning. but we keep the cloud to the south—west with the best of the brightness really across south—eastern and eastern areas. we will chase cloud through the day but we get the best of the sunshine and temperatures will respond. into northern ireland we start off with showery outbreaks of rain to the north and west of scotland but these will primarily sit towards the north—west of the great glen and as we go through the day, a couple showers will filter further east. they will be isolated by then. elsewhere, broken cloud, some sunshine and where we get the best of the sunshine, the temperature will respond. but despite cloud around it will be a warm day for all of us, generally at around 19 or 25 degrees. maybe a little bit fresher in the far north of scotland. one thing is for certain,

later on in the week we keep that dry theme and there will be more in the way of sunshine. as a consequence, temperatures respond. warm to hot in places, particularly in the south—west corner. we can see first signs of that on thursday with decent spells of sunshine coming through much of the country and you can see that we will see high 205 likely into the south—east corner, maybe as high as 23 or 24 in sheltered western areas of scotland. this area of high pressure may drift further east and that will allow it to continue to drag up even warmer air from the near continent but at the same time, however, there is a potential for a weather front to push on from the west. as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, yes, it is a bank holiday weekend, there is a potential for some of us to see 30 degrees however, with that front knocking on the door there is also the potential for

a thundery breakdown. do not make this the last forecast you see for the bank holiday weekend. there is the potential for sharp thundery downpours to moving from the south—west, of it, however, it will stay quite warm with lots of sunshine. hello and welcome to bbc news. my name is david eades. 0ur hello and welcome to bbc news. my name is david eades. our top stories: manchester pays tribute to the victims of monday's attack, as the prime minister raises the uk's terror threat level to critical. this means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains likely, but that a further attack may be imminent. 22 people were killed and 59 injured when a suicide bomber targeted young fans leaving a pop concert. the first victims have been named — among them children and teenagers. police say the bomber‘s been identified as 22—year—old salman abedi, who lived in manchester. hello. i am sally bundock with the

business stories. as the uk prime minister ups the security personnel