Nadia Calviño: Women’s empowerment is good business

Dear Minister Roth, dear Mr Hannig, colleagues and friends,

It is such a great pleasure to welcome you at the premises of the European Investment Bank (EIB). And, also, to join you to discuss and to give the introductory remarks for an issue that I am quite passionate about, and that's gender equality and women's economic empowerment.

I am passionate about it because this is the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do. And that explains why we have so many representatives from the financial sector, because this is not only the right thing for our societies and for economic and social progress, but it is also good business. Actually, there is an estimate that if we would provide services and mobilise women in the area of finance, there is an estimated $700 billion globally for financial services providers to grab. So, as I was saying, this is also good business. It makes sense.

Data are clear. Companies with diverse leadership perform better. I am very happy to report that at the European Investment Bank Group, we are at the 40% of women's leadership target. We have achieved this target before we were expecting it. And I have to say that this is the result of just choosing the best persons for each job. And that is important. We had a target, we have met it. And it is because when you look for talent, there are just as many talented women as men. So, we've been able to achieve that percentage.

My main message after sharing this internal approach, I have two main messages, actually, to convey to you. The first is how important it is that we pursue this agenda and that we build partnerships to pursue this agenda. Because in today's world, some words are becoming almost revolutionary in some quarters. And I see it on a day-to-day basis when other multilateral development institutions are not able to talk about gender or women. Actually, other words that have become revolutionary include climate, sea level rise, development finance, even corporation seems to be a revolutionary word these days. So, it is more important than ever that we join our forces and pursue this gender equality agenda, which is, as I was saying a moment ago, the right one from all points of view.

And the second message I wanted to convey is a message of celebration and thanks and appreciation for the partnership that we have with Luxembourg and the leadership of Luxembourg, and the fact that Luxembourg continues to be a country where we can actually be proud to pursue this agenda. In the last five years from the European Investment Bank, we have doubled our financing for gender equality to exceed €3.5 billion in 2025. And this includes partnerships with European banks to provide financing for startups and initiatives and projects that are led by women. This also includes important projects in Africa to pursue women's health. This also includes microcredits around the world to support women's initiatives. So, we are at the European Investment Bank walking the talk.

And we are doing it also in partnership with the Luxembourgish institutions. I think Julie Becker, the head of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, cannot join us at this point in time, but we have a very close partnership with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. As you know, minister, together last March we rang the bell to actually mark the fact that we were including gender equality as one of the elements in our sustainability and impact bonds. I am happy to report that these bonds are extremely successful in financial markets. And so, we see that financial markets do understand the importance of this agenda.

So, these Sustainability Awareness Bonds continue to be and will continue to be one of our landmark initiatives to mark this partnership also with Luxembourg. Because when women thrive, whole communities thrive. And we will continue to partner, and I am very grateful for your leadership, dear Gilles, in this area. It was one of the first things you did upon your appointment as finance minister, to launch this initiative to talk about the importance of gender equality and women's empowerment for the Luxembourgish government. And I think that's a very powerful message that you're here with us today.

And since I just spoke about ringing the bells in the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, let me close with a quote by Leonard Cohen that I refer to a lot these days, these days where we see so many challenges around the world, challenges that are putting to the test the principles and the basis of the European extraordinary success for the past 80 years. And it's a call for action for all of us, for all of us to ring the bells that still can ring, because there is a crack, a crack in everything and that's how the light gets in. So that's what we're doing today. We are ringing bells so that the light continues to come in. Thank you very much. And I give the floor to Minister Roth.