Two European Investment Bank reports highlight solutions for development challenges and the importance of partnership with Africa

The European Investment Bank (www.EIB.org) today releases its vision for working with Africa and a set of expert ideas about the future of development.

The two new publications were formally launched by EIB President Werner Hoyer and Vice President Thomas Östros earlier today, ahead of the European Development Days.

The first publication, A Partnership with Africa: How the European Investment Bank delivers on EU policies in Africa and our future plans for development and partnership across the continent, lays out plans by the EU bank for greater impact in its projects in Africa.

The second, Global Solutions, International Partnerships: The European Investment Bank Development Report 2021, is built around expert essays that provide new ideas to answer today’s global development challenges. It is the first time the world’s biggest multilateral financial institution has published a vision for its African deals or a comprehensive report on its €10 billion annual development lending.

The European Investment Bank is one of the largest providers of climate finance in the world and has committed to support €1 trillion in climate and environmental investment over the next decade. The EU bank also works with African partners in innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises and infrastructure. Last year, the EIB signed €5 billion in loans in Africa.

The EIB is the only multilateral finance institution exclusively owned by the EU and works closely with other EU institutions (https://bit.ly/2RTwr8r) to support EU policies in over 140 countries around the world. The bank is a key part of the EU toolbox that for decades has helped make the partnership between Africa and Europe stronger. It aims to maximise the impact of every investment, so that it can join its African partners in addressing today’s critical challenges together and embrace the opportunities presented by the continent’s economic transformation.

A Partnership with Africa lays out the EIB’s track record in Africa and illustrates how the EIB believes it can deliver better in the years ahead. It is an account of a solid partnership between the European Commission and the EIB, as well as with the full range of European and international development finance institutions and other stakeholders, such as the United Nations Development Programme, to create profound impact on the ground. To understand what that impact will mean for the lives of Africans, read A Partnership with Africa.

The first comprehensive report on the EIB’s work outside the European Union, Global Solutions, International Partnerships: The European Investment Bank Development Report 2021, provides insights into the EIB’s initiatives in all regions around the world that are of priority to the European Union, as well as data and insights on their impact and ideas for their contribution to an enhanced European architecture for development through a series of expert essays.

The climate crisis and COVID-19 remind us that solutions must be global. From the loss of education to the impact on businesses, jobs, and the flow of finance for development, the EIB Development Report reinforces why development finance backing from the European Union is more important than ever in the light of the pandemic.

The report’s expert content addresses key development policy questions, including:

• How to calculate climate change risk?
• How to fight climate change with gender equality?
• How to rehabilitate forests destroyed to produce chocolate?
• How to counter the water crisis in developing countries?
• How equity can finance innovative business models in Africa?

For more information and to download the full reports, go to:

A Partnership with Africa: How the European Investment Bank delivers on EU policies in Africa and our future plans for development and partnership across the continent https://bit.ly/3xe5viy

Global Solutions, International Partnerships: The European Investment Bank Development Report 2021 https://bit.ly/3pQwIW8
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of European Investment Bank (EIB).
Press contacts: Richard Willis r.willis@eib.org tel.: +352 43 79 82155 Mobile:  +352 621 55 57 58 Website: www.EIB.org/press

Press Office: +352 4379 21000 press@eib.org

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Background information: The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.