The EDAMA Association for Energy, Water & Environment hosted a Power Breakfast on “Supporting economic resilience in Jordan through private sector investment: European Investment Bank’s financial products” on Tuesday 14 March 2017 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Imad Fakhoury, the Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Dario Scannapieco, and the EU Ambassador to Jordan, Andrea Fontana participated in a panel discussion moderated by Dr Ysuf Mansour during the event which was attended by more than 100 representatives of the public and private sectors as well as the financial sector in Jordan.
The Chairman of EDAMA, Dr Dureid Mahasneh welcomed all participants and stressed the importance of finance as a key element in supporting Jordan in its efforts to face economic challenges especially in the areas of infrastructure and mega projects as well as in reinforcing the private sector’s ability to develop and adopt green technology and best industrial practices.
In his welcome speech, the Vice-President of the EIB said, “As the EU Bank, we seek to improve people’s lives by providing finance and expertise for projects supporting innovation, SMEs, infrastructure and climate action. Today, I am pleased to be here in Amman to reinforce our established solid relations with both public and private sector actors and to strengthen the links between EIB staff and our counterparts in Jordan. Together, with our joint efforts, necessary projects can be implemented to improve the economic resilience of the Jordanian economy.”
During the event, the Director of Operations in the Neighborhood Countries, Heinz Olbers and senior staff of the EIB presented the Bank’s different financial products available to both the private and public sectors in Jordan. The financial products include; direct loans to large corporates or to special purpose companies for project finance, credit lines to local banks destined to be on-lent to SMEs, equity investments in investment funds and loans to microfinance institutions. In addition, the EIB finances large infrastructure projects in sectors such as transport, energy and water”. In addition, the EIB Staff also presented the EIB’s new Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI), which forms part of the joined-up response by the European Union to the challenges posed by forced displacement and migration, and will be implemented in close cooperation with the EU Member States and other partners. The ERI will bring extra EIB support to Jordan as well as other neighbouring countries of the European Union.
Contact: Khaled Elnimr, +352 4379 70482, k.elnimr@eib.org