The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Republic of Guinea signed a loan agreement for EUR 12 million from the EIB's risk capital resources for financing the development of Conakry harbour, the principal commercial harbour of the Republic of Guinea. The investments in the port installations will maintain and strenthen its competitiveness and creat capacity for handling increasing container traffic.
The development project for the harbour is vital for Guinea's national economy. The project covers a new container quay, a container collection area and harbour installations, including beaconing systems for fire and shiiping safety. The project is accompanied by institution building measures for safeguarding the environment and to ensure the independence of Conakry port authority.
The project will be cofinanced together with i.a. the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau from Germany and the Agence Française de Développement. The borrower is the Republic of Guinea, on behalf of the autonomous port authority of Conakry, a public sector company. The port authority has a natural monopoly and is a source of foreign currency for the country. The port of Conakry is strategically important nationally as well as for the region for maritime transport to and from Mali, which has significantly increased following the crisis in Ivory Coast.
The EIB, established in 1958 by the Treaty of Rome, finances capital investment projects, which further the European Union (EU) policy objectives. In support for EU development aid and cooperation policises EIB is Europe's development finance institution for countries that have co-operation or association agreements with the European Union. The present project is part of development finance activities under the outgoing fourth Lomé Convention (1989 - the present).
Following the Lomé convention, the Bank's development finance activities in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) fall under the provisions of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou in June 2000. Under this Agreement the total financial aid available amounts to EUR 15.2 billion for 2002-2006, of which EUR 11.3 billion is grant aid from the EU member states, EUR 2.2 billion is managed by the EIB under the Investment Facility set up by the Agreement and up to EUR 1.7 billion is in the form of loans from the EIB's own resources. The Investment Facility is a revolving facility (loan amortizations will be invested in new operations), aiming at supporting technically, environmentally, financially and economically sound projects in the private or the commercially run public sector.
As part of Lomé fourth's development finance arrangements, EIB managed some of the European Development Fund (EDF) resources, constituted by contributions from EU Member States, under a specific mandate. These funds were used primarily for risk capital operations.