The European Investment Bank today opened its resident office in Bucharest, after Warsaw the second one in the new Member States. The inauguration ceremony attended by some 200 invitees from the government, the banking and business world was followed by addresses from EIB President Philippe Maystadt, Dirk Ahner Director General of DG Regional Policy in the European Commission, and Alexander Auboeck, Business Group Director for Infrastructure at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The establishment of the EIB Bucharest office will improve the EIB’s responsiveness to the financing needs of public and private clients and strengthen cooperation with the local institutions and partners.
The EIB office will also accommodate experts from JASPERS, a joint technical assistance programme set up by the EIB, the European Commission and the EBRD to assist the countries of central and Eastern Europe including Romania to develop high quality projects which will receive support from the EU's Structural and Cohesion Funds.
The EIB’s operations in Romania cover a wide range of economic sectors ranging from basic infrastructure, manufacturing and services, including support for small-and medium-sized companies, through local financial institutions, to education and promotion of a knowledge-based economy. Overall, these operations contributing to facilitate the EU integration of Romania have grown to a total of more than EUR 5 bn since 1990.
Against the background of Romania’s already fast-moving economy, accelerated by EU membership in 2007, the EIB’s investments in Romania have reached some EUR 690 million in 2006 underlining the Bank’s commitment to the country.
The EIB has partnered with national and foreign industrial investors and is supporting, through cooperation with an extended network of local banks, a performing SME sector in Romania. Besides the lending activities in the private sector business, the Bank’s main operational objectives will be infrastructure and energy development. “The EIB seeks to extend and to deepen its lending portfolio in Romania and to expand progressively into other priority areas, such as education and Research&Development&Innovation as well as new financial instruments such as Public-Private Partnerships, which will be essential for future growth and prosperity”, underlined EIB Vice-President Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen.
The EIB has appointed Goetz von Thadden as the Bank’s Head of office in Bucharest which has become fully operational since May 2007. The EIB office in Romania may be reached at: EIB Bucharest Office, Str. Jules Michelet 18-20, 010463 Bucharest, Tel.: +40-21-208 64 00; Bucharest_office@eib.org.
For more information about the EIB financing and JASPERS, please refer to www.eib.org and www.jaspers.europa.eu.
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