Prime Minister of Hungary Mr. Péter Medgyessy who paid an official visit to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg met President of the European Investment Bank Mr. Philippe Maystadt and EIB Vice-President Mr. Wolfgang Roth on 3 December 2003.
The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Mr. Imre Réthy, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Transport and Mr. István Salgó, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Mr. János Eros, Chief Executive Officer of the Hungarian Bank for Development, discussed with EIB representatives development of Hungarian infrastructure, especially the project of extension of the Hungarian motorway network and upgrading of the Budapest metro in addition to EIB support in other fields such as research and development.
EIB lending policy in Hungary is focused on financing investment projects that contribute to economic integration of Hungary into the EU and help to implement European standards in various sectors such as the environment. This includes support for investments in transport and environment, energy and communications, industry and foreign investment, in addition to future possibilities in areas such as health and education. The EIB has also extensively co-financed European Union funds, under the ISPA programme, and this will continue with EIB support for Cohesion and Structural Funds financing.
Since 1990, the EIB has lent over EUR 23 billion in total in Central and Eastern Europe. Loans provided to Hungary so far amount to EUR 3.2 billion, of which EUR 1.252 billion (almost 40%) has gone to transport projects. Global loan facilities aimed at supporting small and medium scale projects exceed EUR 700 million, (approx. 20% of total loans provided to Hungary).