On the side-lines of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels on Monday 19 December, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Ukraine signed a set of loans worth a total of €600 million for higher education, energy efficiency, the railways and SMEs.
This EIB assistance package to strengthen the resilience of the Ukrainian economy forms part of its €3 billion financial aid programme for Ukraine for the period from 2014 to 2016, which, itself, is part of an overall €11 billion package promised by the EU in March 2014.
It includes loans of: - €120 million to support higher education and energy efficiency; - €150 million for the modernisation of the country’s railways; - €260 million to support Ukraine’s small and medium sized companies and MidCaps; - €71 million to upgrade the infrastructure of agriculture company Nibulon.
In addition, the EIB and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding to underline the importance of future support beyond 2016 and to set out areas for possible future cooperation.
“Signing this set of loans is very important for the Commission: it demonstrates its support for the modernisation of Ukraine in many areas”, commented Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic at the signing ceremony.
Sefcovic highlighted, in particular, the importance of the loan for improving energy efficiency in Ukraine, stating that equalling the performance of the EU would save Ukraine the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of Spain and reduce its imports of fossil fuels. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)