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PRESS RELEASE
LENDING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE SUPPORT FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS IN EGYPT
The lending institution of the European Union, the
European Investment Bank (EIB), is providing a soft loan
of EUR 40 million to enable private and public sector
industrial companies to invest in pollution abatement
measures. The focus is on the Greater Cairo and
Alexandria areas, where more than 80% of the country’s
industrial production is located, although pollution
abatement projects can be financed throughout Egypt.
This new EIB soft loan is made available via a line of
credit to the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the
country’s largest bank, which will on lend funds
directly to companies investing in environmental
projects, or make these funds available to other banks.
The soft loan benefits from an interest rate subsidy of
EUR 10 million from the European Commission. It was
signed at the EIB headquarters in Luxembourg on 21
November 2006.
The project’s implementing agency is the Egyptian
Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) of the Egyptian
Ministry of State for Environment. The Agency will
benefit from EUR 3 million of technical assistance
grants made available to the EIB by the European
Commission under the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean
Investment and Partnership (FEMIP). The Government of
Finland and the National Bank of Egypt will also provide
grants to assist EEAA during project implementation. A
Project Management Unit (PMU) has already been set-up
and an initial, short-term FEMIP technical assistance
programme has been ongoing at EEAA since September 2006.
This Egyptian Pollution Abatement Project underpins the
EIB’s ongoing interest in environmental projects in
Egypt. In addition to the EIB, the World Bank, the
Agence Française de Développement and the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation will also contribute to the
financing of the estimated total project cost of EUR 145
million.
Background notes
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the financing
institution of the European Union (EU). Owned by the
EU’s Member States, the EIB mission is to further the
EU’s objectives by providing long-term finance for
specific capital investment projects. Lending amounted
to EUR 47.4 billion in 2005. Outside the EU, the EIB’s
activities are carried out in the framework of specific
mandates. In Egypt the EIB has committed loans for some
EUR 3.8 billion since 1978, but with a significant
increase of lending in the last three years since the
establishment of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean
Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) and the opening of a
Regional Office in Cairo. In the period 2003-2005 loan
signatures amounted to EUR 1.6 billion and loan
disbursements to EUR 1.4 billion. Top FEMIP priorities
are not only to promote private sector investments but
also to support the infrastructure for these private
developments. FEMIP’s ultimate goal is to assist the
Mediterranean Partner Countries in meeting the
challenges of economic and social modernisation and
enhancing regional integration towards the creation of a
Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area.
Further information is available on the EIB website in
the section devoted to the Mediterranean Partner
Countries:
http://www.eib.org/lending/med/en/index.htm.
Contacts :
In Cairo: tel: (+20-2) 33 66 583; fax (+20-2) 33 66 584;
Email: cairo@eib.org
In Luxembourg: Helen Kavvadia: tel.: (+352) 4379 3146,
fax (+352) 4379 3189; Email:
h.kavvadia@eib.org
(Any questions relating to procurement should be
addressed to EEAA) |
