Luxembourg, 06/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced a €180 million loan for funding the Fez-Taza section of the Rabat-Oujda motorway project. This is the fifth EIB loan to the Moroccan motorway company and comes on top of aid from Arab lenders. The new 126 km stretch of motorway between Fez and Taza will complete the motorway crossing northern Morocco from Casablanca and Rabat in the West to Oujda on the Algerian border. The EIB says the route 'will play an important role in the economic, tourist and agricultural development of the country's northern region. It will ultimately make it possible to create motorway links across the Maghreb from west to east via Algeria'. The €180 million loan will come from FEMIP, the EIB's Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership. (F.B.)