Mr Carlos da Silva Costa, EIB Vice-president, Dr Syed Rizwan Ahmed, on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, and Mr Antonio Andrea Monari, Resident Director General of the Asian Development Bank, signed the relevant documents in Luxembourg today (24.11.09).

The EIB Vice-President said that this operation “ is definitely a timely and visible contribution to the European Union (EU) policy aimed at consolidating democracy in Pakistan and supporting social and economic development in the country. It also constitutes the first mutual reliance arrangement between the ADB and EIB. This is indeed a trail-blazing approach and I hope it is the first of many such operations, bearing testimony to the excellent cooperation.”

The lending operation is structured as a framework scheme, under which the EIB will support a series of investments in the renewable energy sector in Pakistan, thereby contributing to the mitigation of climate change, one of the core objectives of the European Union’s mandate for lending in Asia. The investments will be part of the multi-year programme to develop the renewable energy sector in Pakistan set up by the country’s government, for a total amount of USD 2.2 billion. The programme has also the financial support of the ADB (USD 510 million) and is backed by technical assistance from ADB, the World Bank and bilateral development agencies (USAID and Germany’s GTZ).

EIB-ADB collaboration in the project will make it possible to exploit synergies between the two financial institutions and will minimise the transaction costs to the borrower. Under the co-financing Agreement signed between the EIB and ADB, the EIB will be delegating to the ADB a series of tasks concerning loan administration and project monitoring. This innovative approach is in line with the principles of the 2005 Paris declaration on aid effectiveness , and with the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action , which call for a reduction in the fragmentation of aid by improving the complementarity of donors’ efforts and the division of labour among donors.

This is the EIB’s fifth lending operation in Pakistan, where it started operations in 1993. It is also the third operation with Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance.