The two EU institutions hold talks in Luxembourg about deepening cooperation in the Balkans

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's long term financing institution, held today talks with the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) in Luxembourg. The talks focused on how the two institutions could increase their cooperation for further financing the development in the Western Balkans, and their integration with the enlarged European Union.

Mr Gerlando Genuardi, EIB Vice-President with special responsibility for the Western Balkans, welcomed the EAR delegation headed by Mr Richard Zink, EAR Director. The six EAR high-level officials discussed with fifteen EIB high-level staff members the coordination and complementarity of financing activity in the region, in areas such as private sector, infrastructure, energy, environment, health and education.

The two EU institutions have worked together to promote investment in energy, transport, health and other essential infrastructure, particularly in Serbia and Montenegro. An EIB loan demands a considerable preparation. The EAR, which manages most of the EU's assistance in Serbia and Montenegro, UN-administered Kosovo, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is able to fund such preparation activity. In Montenegro, and in FYR Macedonia, the EAR is developing, with governments, investment strategies and feasibility studies designed to facilitate investments. It is also training public officials to manage subsequent investment projects. In Serbia, for instance, feasibility studies supported by the EAR facilitated a EUR 50 million loan from the EIB for equipment and renovations in hospitals.

The EIB is progressively increasing its long-term lending in the Balkan countries. The EIB looks forward to a closer integration of the Balkans region and the European Union; it is now focusing on investments to improve human capital, municipal development and to stimulate the private sector, particularly SMEs. These investments will complement the traditional financial support given to upgrade and reconstruct infrastructure, in joint forces with the EAR. In the late 90s, the EIB was invited to renew operations in the Western Balkan region, as part of the EUR 9.2 billion financial Mandate for the Central and Eastern European Countries for the years 2000-2007.