Brussels, 10/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to lend EUR 30 million to Tunisia to finance a project for the upgrading and construction of some 47 km of roads around Bizerte. The EIB notes that the project, that is a complement to the new Tunis-Bizerte motorway currently under construction, must have a positive impact for the "more balanced economic development of the north-eastern regions, the capital Tunis and surrounding areas". The loan is made within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership for which the EIB has a mandate to provide up to EUR 6,425 million in funding for the period 2000-2007. Since the beginning of EIB operations in Tunisia in 1978, a total of over one billion euros has been lent to finance projects in industrial, food processing, transport and environmental projects.