“I am delighted that the 8th FEMIP Conference is being held in Valencia on such a key subject as energy. The challenge facing this international conference is to make the Mediterranean an attractive, competitive region that is integrated within the world economy.
More than just a challenge, energy is a driver of economic growth for all Mediterranean countries, a breeding ground for innovative projects and jobs. It will undoubtedly be the keystone of a long-lasting partnership for the Euro-Mediterranean Region.”

Philippe de Fontaine Vive
EIB Vice-President with responsibility for FEMIP

On 10 May 2010, the 8th FEMIP Conference will be held in Valencia (Spain) on the subject of “Energy in the Mediterranean Region: the challenges ahead”. Organised by FEMIP – the European Investment Bank’s financial arm for the Mediterranean – the conference will bring together representatives of the private sector, fund managers, top officials from international financial institutions, energy experts and grid operators. It will be chaired by Mr Philippe de Fontaine-Vive, EIB Vice-President with responsibility for FEMIP.

The 8th FEMIP Conference sessions will focus on the different facets of the energy challenge in the Mediterranean, with the following key items up for discussion:

  • the importance of an institutional, regulatory, economic and financial framework that provides an incentive for and is conducive to investment in renewable energy;
  • innovation and the introduction of pioneering instruments to encourage energy efficiency;
  • development and integration of the electricity generated from renewable energy sources into existing grids.

This conference represents a continuation of the decision taken by the Heads of State or Government at the first summit of the Union for the Mediterranean in July 2008 to target an additional 20 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020. The aim of the Valencia Conference will be threefold:

  • to truly raise the awareness of the energy challenge in all FEMIP countries in economic, financial, industrial and technical terms, taking account of the fact that the region’s vast renewable energy potential is among the most extensive in the world.
  • to mobilise the political decision-makers and protagonists of the Mediterranean Solar Plan as well as its financiers and partners in order to speed up and facilitate the implementation of innovative, efficient, job-creating energy projects.
  • to draw up new, concrete, realistic guidelines on the basis of a close and long-lasting partnership between Mediterranean countries. The conclusions of this conference will be put to the EU and Mediterranean Ministers at the Ministerial Meeting on energy to be held in Cairo.

How is the energy challenge in the Mediterranean to be met? No longer a question, this has already become an operational priority for the EIB, which between 2002 and 2009 provided energy financing totalling EUR 3.7bn in the Mediterranean, with flagship projects such as the Tillouguit hydropower plant and the Tangier wind farm in Morocco, the Gabal el-Zait wind farm in Egypt, the Jordanian pipeline in Jordan, the Ghannouch power plant in Tunisia and the Deir Ali I and II projects in Syria.

This conference will also provide the EIB with the opportunity to reaffirm its commitment as financial coordinator to the Mediterranean Solar Plan, which will continue to have access to the Bank’s expertise and all FEMIP’s financing instruments. It will also strive to implement national initiatives, e.g. the Ouarzazate pilot project in Morocco for which the EIB is the lead financier.

The 8th FEMIP Conference will be followed on 11 and 12 May by the Ministerial Meeting on the Mediterranean Solar Plan organised by the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

Detailed programme of the 8th FEMIP Conference: www.eib.org/events

Note to editors:

FEMIP, the key player in the financial partnership between Europe and the Mediterranean, providing more than EUR 10bn in finance between October 2002 and December 2009.

The Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) groups together all the instruments used by the European Investment Bank to carry out its activities in the Mediterranean partner countries. It has been operating since October 2002 and is today the key player in the economic and financial partnership between Europe and the Mediterranean, providing more than EUR 10bn in support of projects in the nine Mediterranean partner countries.

FEMIP attaches paramount importance to energy as key to sustainable development in the Mediterranean. Between 2002 and 2009, it provided financing totalling EUR 3.7bn to this sector in the Mediterranean, with the focus on:

  • building and upgrading energy infrastructure in order to improve supplies for people in the Mediterranean region;
  • strengthening regional energy interconnections and developing new energy routes;
  • exploiting the region’s considerable renewable energy potential;
  • optimising sustainable energy development in a way that meets environmental concerns.

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