The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia agreed to expand their cooperation on the development and financing of key green, sustainable transport projects in the country and Croatia’s green and digital transformation.
Article continues below
The memorandum of understanding, signed in Dubrovnik, will enable the EIB and the ministry to work towards sharing knowledge and best practices, co-finance projects and programmes, deploy EIB-managed advisory services (such as ELENA, EIAH and JASPERS) to help the ministry achieve its strategic goals, and cooperate to increase the capacity of relevant counterparts to manage transport investments.
The cooperation will focus on enabling investments in railway, maritime infrastructure, inland waterways, road safety, climate resilience, the use of innovative and digital technologies, urban mobility and multimodal nodes, and roads and road transport.
The memorandum was signed on the margins of the official opening ceremony of the Pelješac Bridge, an EIB-financed project and one of the largest infrastructure projects ever to be completed in Croatia.
The EIB will also extend its support to the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and back key energy and climate initiatives such as the Croatian Transport Development Strategy (2017-2030).
The partners will also cooperate to maximise opportunities stemming from EU programmes and attract funding from the EU Multiannual Financial Framework, InvestEU, the Green Deal Investment Plan and the Just Transition Fund.
The EU bank will also provide technical and advisory support to the ministry to maximise and expand opportunities deriving from EU initiatives and funds by providing access to and blending EU finance and grants from these sources with existing EIB financial products.
The agreement will also enable partners to boost local economic development and help Croatia recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the two devastating earthquakes that hit the country in 2020.
The agreement comes days after the EIB updated its Transport Lending Policy, which sets out the EIB’s priorities for supporting the transport sector, in line with the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap.
Priorities under the new EIB Transport Lending Policy include more investment in public transport, shared and active transport, clean vehicles, alternative fuel infrastructure, intelligent transport systems, intermodal and multimodal transport, a safe system approach to road safety, resilient transport infrastructure, and the completion of networks in all transport sectors, with a focus on safety, accessibility, greenness and efficiency, including through digitalisation.
The EIB has supported the social and economic development of Croatia by investing more than €7.2 billion in key sectors of the country’s economy, including transport, the environment, energy infrastructure, manufacturing and services.
Another key component of the Bank’s activity in Croatia is the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by increasing SME access to long-term financing through local financial institutions. ■
A hyperactive weather pattern will bring an expansive low pressure system across mainland U.S., resulting in widespread impactful weather to progress from west to east across the country through the next few days.