Luxembourg, 19/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - Under its Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), the European Investment Bank (EIB) is participating to the tune of €10 million in the launch of the Moroccan Infrastructure Fund (MIF), a limited liability company to be incorporated in Morocco. The Fund, which will focus on equity and quasi-equity investments in infrastructure and related projects and companies in Morocco, is being sponsored by Attijari Invest (AI), part of Attijariwafa Bank (AWB), and EMP Africa. In addition to its loans and technical assistance grants, FEMIP encourages the development of the private sector by acquiring equity and quasi-equity stakes in private companies in order to help Mediterranean Partner Countries speed up their economic and social modernisation, in particular through increased regional integration. These FEMIP activities are financed from the European Community budget (€200 million over the period 2001-2006) and by the FEMIP Trust Fund, which was set up in December 2004 (€33.5 million). (ol)