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Mr Vladimir Filat, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, accompanied by Mr Iurie Leanca, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Mr Valeriu Lazar, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Ms Natalia Gherman, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, today paid an official visit to the EIB. The Moldova Government delegation discussed with EIB President Philippe Maystadt and EIB Vice-President Eva Srejber, responsible inter alia for EIB lending operations in EU’s Eastern Neighbours, including Moldova, ongoing projects financed by the EIB in the country and priorities and prospects for future EIB financial support.

So far, the EIB has granted two loans in Moldova: EUR 30 million for the upgrading of roads connecting Moldova with the EU and EUR 20 million for the modernisation of Moldova's Capital Chisinau airport. The pipeline of potential projects contains operations in the transport, energy and environment sectors - including notably in the water sector - as well as for the support of SMEs. During today’s meeting, both sides expressed their satisfaction with cooperation so far and their joint interest in expanding EIB lending to eligible projects in Moldova going forward.

Background information:

The EIB, the European Union’s Bank finances projects in the Republic of Moldova on the basis of a joint EU Council / Parliament mandate of EUR 3.7 billion for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Russia for the period 2007-2013. There is no ex-ante allocation of the overall amount by country. This mandate envisages financing of projects that are of significant interest both to the EU and to the relevant country (here: Moldova) in transport, energy, telecommunications and environmental infrastructure, as well as SMEs.

In addition, EIB has recently set up the Eastern Partners Facility (EPF) in an amount of EUR 1.5 billion that will complement the afore-mentioned mandate for the 2007-2013 period and will enable the Bank to support notably EU Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the region.