Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 20
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
The European Investment Bank is currently active work in Central Asia, and has recently spoken regarding its activities in Turkmenistan.
"Outside the European Union, the European Investment Bank supports projects contributing to economic development in countries which have previously signed association or cooperation agreements with the European Commission," the EIB told Trend.
"These agreements cover all lending activities that the Bank is (or may be) authorised to do in these countries. A framework agreement with a country in general regulate relations between the respective country and the EIB, our legal status in the country etc. and requires legislative action in the partner country as well as the approval from our shareholders represented in the Board of Governors," the bank said.
Without the EU mandate and framework agreement the EIB cannot be active in a country outside the European Union, the EIB said.
"At the moment the EIB does not have a framework agreement with the Republic of Turkmenistan and therefore is not currently active in the country," the EIB representative said.
"The EIB is working towards a framework agreement with the Republic of Turkmenistan which, once signed, would allow us to finance operations in the country," said the bank.
The negotiations on the issue of signing a Framework Agreement with Turkmenistan that would provide a legal basis for EIB activities in this country have been going on for several years. In 2018 the EIB told Trend that the framework agreement has yet to be signed with Turkmenistan.
As for the rest of the Central Asia, loans provided by the EIB come from the lending window for Asia provided under the mandate from the Council and European Parliament for the period 2014-2020, out of which €182 m has been made available for use in Central Asia.
In addition, Central Asian countries are eligible under the Bank’s own risk Climate Action & Environment Facility (CAEF) for investment grade projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon capture, transportation or storage projects aiming specifically to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and projects contributing substantially to security of EU energy supply.
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