• The European Union is the main partner for the development of the Latin America region, its number one investor and second biggest trade partner 
  • Since it began operating in Latin America, the EU bank has provided EUR 7.8bn to support 105 projects in 14 countries in the region
  • Against the backdrop of the IDB annual meeting, the EIB has signed a EUR 42.2m loan to finance the urban waste management plan of Jujuy (Argentina), which comes in addition to a EUR 11.3m grant from the EU's Latin America Investment Facility (LAIF), and another EUR 12m loan for the project to improve and extend the water supply network in Nicaragua
  • The EIB will sign new cooperation agreements with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and COFIDES

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is attending the 2018 annual meeting held by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Argentina. At this event, the EIB delegation, headed by the Bank's Director for Operations in Latin America María Shaw-Barragán, is holding various meetings with economy, finance and development ministers from several Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as with representatives from Latin American and international institutions. The aim is to continue working towards closer cooperation and collaboration between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The EU bank is 60 years old. Our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean began in 1993 and 1978 respectively and, over the years, we have worked to bring the favourable terms of our financing to projects helping to meet the EU's foreign policy objectives in the region, such as developing economic, environmental and social infrastructure, supporting the private sector and combating climate change,” said María Shaw-Barragán while the EIB was attending the IDB annual meeting. “The EIB is determined to continue operating in Latin America and the Caribbean to help implement projects that facilitate economic development in the region and have a positive social impact on its people.”

New financing agreements in Argentina and Nicaragua

During this visit, the EIB has signed two new financing agreements in the region. In Argentina, the EU bank has signed a EUR 42.2m loan – which comes in addition to a EUR 11.3m grant from the European Commission's Latin America Investment Facility (LAIF) – with the Government of Jujuy to finance the development of the province's integrated urban waste management plan. The agreement will enable new services for the collection and treatment of solid urban waste to be provided and will help create new economic opportunities in the region. Part of this EU financing will be used to support initiatives to train those already working at the landfill sites, and particularly the social integration of women via new job opportunities.

The EU bank has also signed a new agreement with Nicaragua to expand the financing of the programme to improve and extend the country's drinking water and wastewater treatment networks. The EIB will provide a further EUR 12m in addition to the EUR 72m granted to finance this project under an initial agreement signed in 2013.

The main goal of this EIB-financed programme in Nicaragua is to ensure 500 000 people in 19 cities have access to water, as well as to enable the provision of adequate sanitation services.  

Both loans are covered by the EU guarantee agreement and are granted under the Latin America lending mandate 2014-2020.

In addition, the EU bank will strengthen its cooperation with the financial institutions working in Latin America by signing two new cooperation agreements, one with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and another with Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES).

The EIB in Latin America and the Caribbean

The European Union is the main partner for the development of the Latin America region, its number one investor and second biggest trade partner. The EIB, as the EU bank, provides economic support for projects in Latin America by facilitating long-term investment with favourable conditions and by providing the technical support needed to ensure that these projects deliver positive social, economic and environmental results.

Since the EIB began operating in Latin America in 1993, it has provided total financing of EUR 7.8bn to support 105 projects in 14 countries in the region. The EU bank's operations in the Caribbean started in 1978. Since then, the EIB has granted EUR 1.8bn to support various projects in the region.

In 2017, the EU bank provided EUR 759m in Latin America and the Caribbean, funds that have facilitated the development of 12 projects in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Mexico, Argentina, Panama, Peru and the Caribbean region, in sectors as diverse as energy, transport, water infrastructure, climate action and assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises.