November 10 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to invest 3 billion euro ($3.5 billion) in the Western Balkans in the next three years, the head of the EIB Regional Representation for the Western Balkans, Dubravka Negre, said on Friday.
The EIB will double the investments in the Western Balkans in the next three years from 1.5 billion euro planned earlier through its Economic Resilience Initiative, launched in 2016 following a call from the European Council, Negre said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug.
"We also plan to provide grants for the critical points needed for the development of the investment projects, such as their preparation and implementation, feasibility studies, environmental impact studies and technical documentation," Negre said.
The EIB has 30 million euro financing available only for the preparation of the projects, she added.
The bank has signed 6.4 billion euro of loans with the countries of the Western Balkans since 2006 and reimbursed around 1.2 billion euro to projects in the region only in the last two years.
($ = 0.8581 euro)