The European Investment Bank, or EIB, announced new financing agreements with Ukraine on Dec. 17 that it said enhanced the bank’s support for the country.
At a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels on Dec. 17, the EIB finalized terms with the government of Ukraine to lend 50 million euros ($56.6 million) for transport infrastructure improvements throughout the country.
The funding will finance projects to develop the national road system and building new railway crossings, while “supporting the development of future investment” into railway connections between the European Union and Ukraine.
Ukraine also agreed with the EIB – essentially a European Union bank, belonging to and acting on the interests of its member states – the terms of another 10 million euro ($11.3 million) grant agreement, from the multi-donor E5P Fund.
That grant will be used for supporting municipal energy efficiency and other environmental projects, the EIB said.
According to a statement issued by the EIB, the grant will also help finance the implementation of a Ukraine Higher Education Project, which the EIB is already supporting.
The EIB also concluded on Dec. 17 a memorandum of understanding with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science on a project to create several “centers of educational excellence” throughout the country.
The EIB said that the 10-million-euro grant will also be “instrumental” in implementing the Ukraine Higher Education Project, which has already received a 120 million euro ($136 million) loan from the EIB and 30 million euros ($34 million) from the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, or NEFCO.
“Together with other EU institutions, the EIB is committed to improving the everyday life of Ukraine’s citizens,” said EIB Vice President Vazil Hudák in a statement.
“The projects signed today will result in faster and safer transport infrastructure, better academic facilities and more resources for higher education programmes, all of which will strengthen the country’s competitiveness, he added.”
“Infrastructure development and large logistics projects are government priorities for 2019,” commented Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. “This is our advantage, and we will develop it,” he added.
The EIB is becoming an especially important player in improving Ukraine’s transport infrastructure, often co-financing initiatives alongside the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD.
Kyiv Post earlier reported that the EIB and EBRD were jointly initiating a new, 177-million-euro project to overhaul urban road safety in Ukraine, implemented over three to four years from 2019 in Ukraine’s major cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa.
