20/12/2016 (Agence Europe) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Monday 19 December that they are to grant a joint loan of €82 million (€41 million each) which will be supplemented by a €10 million grant from the EU for the construction of a natural gas pipeline between Romania and Moldova. The funds will be extended to state-owned gas company Î.S. Vestmoldtransgaz, which will build and operate the gas pipeline and the Romania-Moldova interconnector. The project will complete the connection of the gas transmission systems of Romania and Moldova by linking Chisinau to the interconnector, built in 2014, between the eastern Romanian city of Iasi and Ungheni, a Moldovan town on the Romanian border. The EU provided a €7 million grant for the interconnector. (EH)