March 11 (SeeNews) - The president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Nadia Calvino, said the lender is committed to further support Romania's development and address key priorities.
"We will deepen our cooperation with the government of Romania to support economic development, modernisation and resilience," Calvino said in a statement on Friday following meetings with the country's president Klaus Iohannis, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu and finance minister Marcel Bolos.
"We rely on the EIB for the diversification of financial products and to engage in financing the private sector," Bolos said in a separate statement.
The meeting in Bucharest came in the wake of record-high EIB new financing of 4.1 billion euro ($4.486 billion) committed to Romania last year, equivalent to some 1.3% of the country's gross domestic product, the bank said.
The record funding included 800 million euro for the A3 and A7 motorways, as well as 145 million euro aimed at facilitating the construction of Europe's first tritium removal facility at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The project will help protect the environment, and the health and safety of staff working in nuclear facilities.
The EIB started its collaboration with Romania in 1991 and has since committed more than 19 billion euro in financing for 193 projects in the country.
($=0.9140 euro)