Brussels, 05/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the end of December, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Poste Italiane, the company supplying postal services in Italy, signed a contract for €200 million to finance the company's multi-annual development plan. The loan will finance part of the Poste Italiane plan to upgrade the computer network by introducing advanced technologies to support new services. It will also be used for innovation in the infrastructure platforms and logistics in view of the full liberalisation of the postal market set by a European directive for January 2011. The operation meets EIB eligibility requirements in many ways. In a press release, the Bank says that “high quality in mail services is indeed an important factor for economic development”. Also decisive is “the geographic target of the investments which will be partially addressed to projects in the Convergence area regions within the scope of the programme of strategic measures already begun by Poste Italiane”. (O.L./transl.rt)