Brussels, 15/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 January, Finance Ministers are expected to adopt conclusions on the administrative and financial framework promoting investment in the Western Balkans. Welcoming the work done by the Steering Group, they nonetheless call for “rapid and substantial progress” in this area, according to the draft text. Involved in the investment framework are the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Council of Europe Development Bank.
Ministers will, in particular, call on the European Commission to: - accelerate on-going work on assessing existing programmes and facilities, including the analysis of how technical assistance for investment has been financed up to now and identify possible overlaps and gaps; - make progress to allow pooling of resources, possibly within a joint trust fund; - speed up work on reducing the number of financial instruments and technical assistance instruments, and streamlining existing facilities; - create rapidly a common web site and step up efforts to create a single contact point for beneficiaries. Thereafter, the possibility of opening the Western Balkans Investment Framework to non-EU donor countries would be examined. The Ecofin Council calls on member states to cooperate closely with the Commission in implementing the initiative and calls on the Commission to provide an interim report by the end of the first half of 2009, following its report delivered in mid-December 2008. (M.B./transl.rt)