>@Dusan Ondrejicka/EIB

Today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) held a conference devoted to the development of social infrastructure in the health and education sectors. The event, hosted in Zagreb but with a regional impact, provided a valuable discussion platform to leading figures and experts from government bodies, academia, industry, and the civil society in health and education sectors with a special emphasis on infrastructure development and rehabilitation.

The conference had a wider focus addressing current challenges including budgetary constraints and migration pressures in Croatia and neighbouring countries, as these problems frequently require common responses at various levels.

EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco, responsible for lending operations in the region stated: “Availability of high quality services in the health and education sectors are crucial for citizens’ well-being and for improvement in their everyday living standards. Today’s conference in Zagreb met its objectives to make the public and private sector and the business community better aware of the various financial products and advisory support provided by the EU bank to improve social infrastructure. This is particularly needed in Croatia and Slovenia and, more generally, in the Balkan region, which has faced difficult developments in the past and is facing new challenges, such as migration movements and the related need to fill the investment gap.”

The welcome address was delivered by Miguel Morgado, Director of the Adriatic Sea Department at the EIB. Other keynote speakers at the conference included Pavo Barišić, Croatian Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Meho Mahmutović, State Secretary, Serbian Ministry of Health, Marko Pavić, State Secretary, Croatian Ministry of Labour, Julie Velissaratou, OECD Directorate for Education, and Denis Crowley, Head of Unit Innovation in Education, EIT and MSCA at the European Commission.

In the afternoon representatives of the EU bank led separate discussion panels showing best practice examples of larger infrastructure investments for health and education, opening the floor to a wide range of questions from the audience. In subsequent “B2Bs”, detailed promoter questions were addressed by EIB operational staff and EIB financial products and advisory services were explained. The conference underlined the EIB’s engagement and commitment to the health and education sector in the region and provided information concerning cooperation with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), which was the EIB’s partner for this event. This also made it possible to describe the options for project financing and development using guarantees provided by the European Fund for Strategic Investments and advisory help implemented by the European Investment Advisory Hub, both being joint initiatives from the European Commission and the EIB under the Investment Plan for Europe.