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Commission, EIB and EBRD to work together in Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia
Today the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will sign a Memorandum
of Understanding to facilitate the joint financing of projects in Russia,
Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia.
The MoU will bring together the expertise, capacity and comparative advantages
of the three partners to the benefit of the countries concerned. Through this
framework the Commission will also improve the quality of its external
activity and enhance its strategic partnership with Russia and policies in the
eastern neighbourhood and Central Asia.
The MoU will allow for the co-financing of operations in support of the
European Neighbourhood Policy in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Moldova.
It will apply later to Central Asian countries and Belarus, subject to future
Council agreement on EIB financing in these countries. Concretely, the EIB and
the EBRD will work together to finance projects of significant interest to the
EU in energy, transport, telecommunications and environmental infrastructure.
This is a good example of co-operation between the Commission and the two
financial institutions where each party will contribute to improving the
delivery of assistance and bring the highest added value to the target
countries.
The MoU will be signed in Brussels at 15:00hrs by Economic and Monetary
Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia on behalf of the Commission, Philippe
Maystadt and Jean Lemierre, respectively Presidents of the EIB and EBRD.
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