News
CEB welcomes the reinforced role of the Western Balkans Investment Framework and expresses its strong support for the European Commission's Economic and Investment Plan for the region
14 December 2020
PARIS – On 10 and 11 December, the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) co-hosted the Steering Committee meeting (virtual) of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).
The meeting discussed, among other topics, how the Economic and Investment Plan (EIP) for the Western Balkans should be put into practice, with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi presenting the EIP and reaffirming the European Union´s strong support for the region.
The CEB, in its capacity of WBIF founding member and 2020 Co-Chair of the WBIF Project Financiers’ Group (PFG), reiterated its support for the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans and, in particular, for investments in social, sustainable infrastructure and human capital. The Bank welcomes the fact that the EIP acknowledges the importance of social sectors such as health and education, two key sectors for the CEB.
As indicated by the CEB Governor, Rolf Wenzel, in his welcoming remarks, “The CEB is proud to count all of the six Western Balkan countries as its members and to support their strategies and policies for fostering European integration and social development. The Bank is pleased that the EIP explicitly refers to the social dimension of the economic recovery and integration process. The CEB stands ready to join all partners of the Western Balkans Investment Framework in this endeavour.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for an efficient and effective health infrastructure available to all citizens in need of medical services. To halt the brain drain or at least to reduce it, investments in education and access to the banking system are needed in all Western Balkan countries; these will mobilise private entrepreneurship and contribute to sustainable growth.
Yet, beyond these sectors and the WBIF as such, the CEB will continue to support housing projects, judiciary infrastructure, culture as well as job creation and preservation, as the Bank has done to date. In addition to concessional finance, the CEB can mobilise own grant resources as well as bilateral contributions to the CEB by inter alia, Spain, the Slovak Republic and Italy, to help with project preparation and implementation.
In its operational session, the WBIF Steering Committee approved a €3 million investment grant for the rehabilitation of physical education facilities in North Macedonia and a €450 000 technical assistance grant for the development of a new technical university campus in Belgrade. Both projects are supported by the CEB.
The financial resources associated with the two grants have been made available by WBIF Bilateral Donors, particularly Norway, Sweden, Austria, and Germany, as well as by the EU. The CEB fully appreciates these donors’ contributions and continuous support to CEB projects in the region. As maintained by the CEB Governor on other occasions: “Donors are key partners for the CEB. The grants they entrust to the Bank, regardless of size, enable the implementation of highly social projects.”
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The WBIF is a financing facility launched in December 2009 by the European Commission, together with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Bilateral Donors, and Western Balkan countries with the purpose of delivering funding for strategic investment projects in beneficiary countries. The WBIF blends grants, loans, and beneficiary contributions for infrastructure development in the environment, energy, transport, social and digital sectors as well as private sector development. The World Bank Group, the German KfW, and the French AFD (Agence Française de Développement) subsequently joined the Framework.
Set up in 1956, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) has 42 member states. Twenty-two Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries, forming the Bank's target countries, are listed among the member states. As a major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, the Bank finances social projects by making available resources raised in conditions reflecting the quality of its rating (Aa1 with Moody's, outlook stable, AAA with Standard & Poor's, outlook stable, AA+ with Fitch Ratings, outlook stable and AAA* with Scope Ratings, outlook stable). It thus grants loans to its member states, and to financial institutions and local authorities in its member states for the financing of projects in the social sector, in accordance with its Articles of Agreement.
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