On 30 March, the Board of Directors of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) unanimously elected Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Polish state secretary for European affairs, as deputy governor for target countries. Dowgielewicz was backed by CEB Governor Rolf Wenzel. He was one of nine candidates. The state secretary is expected to take up his duties on 2 May for a five-year term of office. His task will be to develop cooperation projects with a group of target countries, Poland among them. Founded in 1956, the CEB is a multilateral development bank with social aims, whose task is to strengthen social cohesion in Europe. It has 40 member countries at present.