Azernews.Az

The European Commission has decided to grant an additional €100 million to the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) for this year, ENPI reported.

This substantial contribution will support neighbouring partner countries in addressing the new challenges faced by the entire region, in particular in the Mediterranean, by leveraging increased funding for major investment projects in key areas such as energy, transport and environment, as well as in the social sector.

Development of the private sector, in particular Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which play a key role in job creation, will also be strongly targeted.

The NIF was launched in May 2008 in order to strengthen overall EU grant support for lending operations carried out by European multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions in ENP partner countries.

Through the NIF, the European Commission provides grant support for lending operations of European Development Finance Institutions in EU Neighbourhood countries.

Out of the €745 million that the Commission intends to allocate to the NIF for the period of 2007 - 2013, €395 million have now been made available. The EU Budget contribution is complemented by direct contributions from 15 Member States for a total amount of approximately €63 million to date.

To date the Facility has supported 44 projects representing a total investment cost of over €10 billion. Projects already funded cover a wide range of sectors; from the construction of a 200 MW wind-farm in the Gulf of Al-Zeit in Egypt to the improvement of the water supply and waste water treatment infrastructure in selected municipalities in the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia or the modernisation of the high speed urban railway network in Tunis.