On 14 July 2014, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Commission (EC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture and rural development within the EU.
The EIB and EC are holding a launch event on the "EC-EIB co-operation on agriculture and rural development within the EU" on 23 March 2015, with opening addresses from Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and Wilhelm Molterer, EIB Vice President.
The event should serve to communicate to Member States, managing authorities and major rural development stakeholders the intentions of the EC (DG AGRI) and the EIB Group on making available specific products in support of EU rural development policy and agri-food research. These include tailored loans to support Rural Development Programmes, and financial instruments for agriculture. The newly created EC/EIB fi-compass advisory platform on financial instruments will also be introduced. Panel discussion and Q&A are foreseen.
The event will be attended by agricultural attaches, the managing authorities in charge of Rural Development Programmes and members of the Civil Dialogue Group on Rural Development.