Press release: Boosting investment in the European Neighbourhood

Energy and transport sectors in the countries of the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood will be a key focus of new EU funding approved on 18 March 2013 by the European Commission.

The Commission decided to allocate EUR 200m to the Neighbourhood Investment Facility with the objective of leveraging investments from EU development banks. Combining the EU grants with the loans from the development banks will allow a more competitive financing structures for many large projects in the countries of the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood.

The planned investments will target energy and transport projects establishing infrastructure interconnections between the EU and neighbouring countries and among neighbouring countries themselves, as well as projects addressing common climate change challenges and promoting growth and small businesses.