14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - €4 billion for Tunisian economy. The European Union has decided to give Tunisia funding of €4 billion to support its economy from 2011 to 2013, announced the EU ambassador to Tunisia, Adrianus Koetsenruijter, reports the official Tunisian press agency TAP on Friday 14 October 2011. The funding will come in the form of aid and loans to promote regional development and boost small business. The cash comes from a number of EU financial institutions, like the European Investment Bank (EIB). A first instalment of €160 million has already been handed to the Tunisian government and last month, the government was granted two sums of aid, totalling €157 million, for economic development after the collapse of the Ben Ali regime on 14 January. Following the Arab Spring, the EU pledged in June 2011 to update its Neighbourhood Policy in the Mediterranean and sign a new generation of trade deals. (LC/transl.fl)