Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

PRESS RELEASE
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=BEI/09/211&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=it

BEI/09/211

23 Octobre 2009

EIB welcomes Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković

Signature of EUR 384 million loan for Corridor X

The President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Philippe
Maystadt and the Vice-President Dario Scannapieco, in charge
of the operations for the Western Balkans, welcomed the
Serbian Prime Minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, at the EIB
headquarters in Luxembourg on Friday, 23 October. This is
the first official visit to the Bank of a Serbian Prime
Minister. President Maystadt and Vice-President Scannapieco
covered with the Prime Minister Cvetković all the main
issues concerning the EIB activity in Serbia aimed at
supporting economic recovery and helping Serbia on its path
towards joining the European Union.

On the same occasion a EUR 384 million loan to the Republic
of Serbia to finance the construction of a new 75 kilometer
section of motorway on Pan-European Corridor X between
Grabovnica and Levosoje was signed. The EIB financing will
cover 40% of the total cost of this priority project for
Serbia.

The promoter of the project will be Corridor X limited
liability company (CXLLC), a subsidiary of Roads of Serbia,
the public enterprise owned by the Republic of Serbia
operating under the authority of the Ministry of
Infrastructure.

This operation is the EIB’s seventh project in the road
sector in Serbia since 2000 and is also the largest single
loan provided by EIB in Serbia to date. The motorway section
Grabovnica-Levosoje forms part of the wider Pan-European
Corridor X investment programme, which also includes section
E-80 towards Bulgaria currently under appraisal, extending
TEN (Trans European Network) outside the European Union.

The project could potentially be considered under the
Western Balkan Investment Framework (WBIF), jointly
announced on 21 st October by the European Commission, the
EIB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
the Council of Europe Development Bank, with the endorsement
of EU Member States, aiming at providing a joint grant
facility and a joint lending facility to finance priority
investment projects in the Western Balkans such as support
to SMEs, energy efficiency and investments in the
infrastructure sector, including social infrastructure.

Note:

The European Investment Bank supports the strategic and
policy objectives of the European Union by granting
long-term loans for economically viable investment projects.
The EIB’s shareholders are the 27 EU Member States. At
end-2008, the EIB’s total financing amounted to EUR 355bn.

The EIB is the largest international investor in the Western
Balkans and operates with the aim of facilitating the
region’s process of integration with the European Union.
The Bank has been active in the region since 1977. Over the
past nine years (January 2000-September 2009), the EIB has
financed projects totalling EUR 3 823 million in the area on
top of providing finance of EUR 1 721 million to Croatia.
The Bank’s focus in the Western Balkans has been on the
implementation of transport, energy, health and education
projects, support for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), industry and services, water and sanitation.

Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia |