On Tuesday 9th July, the European Investment Bank hosted two events at its headquarters in Luxembourg to celebrate 50 years of supporting EU development policies in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions and 10 years of the ACP Investment Facility (ACP-IF), the Bank’s sustainable revolving facility geared towards private sector investment. More than 1,300 projects have received over 16 billion euro in 92 ACP and OCT countries or regional groupings, of which more than 200 projects for 3.4 billion euro under the ACP IF.
Throughout the day, the Bank welcomed 109 delegates including 27 Ambassadors representing 52 countries, as well as representatives of the WAEMU (West African Economic and Monetary Union). Mr Nick Westcott, Managing Director for Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS), actively participated in the presentations and discussions. The fifth edition of the annual visit coincided with the recent approval by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers of an additional envelope of 500 million euro for the ACP Investment Facility, as a recognition of the Bank’s performance under the Cotonou mandate. The new endowment will enable the EIB to undertake ‘impact investing’ in the regions, taking more risk for more development. It will also allow the Bank to broaden its geographical scope to countries where it has not previously been active, as well as to branch into new areas such as agribusiness and food security. On top of that, the Bank was endowed with a mandate for a new envelope of 2.5 billion euro lending under the Bank’s own resources guaranteed by Member States and a new subsidy envelope out of the 11th EDF of 634 million euro for blending purposes.
In the evening, the Heads of the ACP Delegations were joined by high-level guests for a celebratory dinner of the milestone anniversary. Attendees include colleagues from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Development Finance Institutions (EDFIs) and the ACP Investment Facility Committee. EIB President Werner Hoyer welcomed participants, following by speeches presenting the various aspects of the ACP-EU relationship from Deputy Director General of DG DEVCO Mr Cornaro, Lithuanian Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Leskevicius (marking the beginning of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Council), German Minister for Development Cooperation Mr Dirk Niebel and ACP Secretary General H.E. Mr Mumuni.
