According to Terraillon, the EIB for the first time would be packaging its low-interest loans to Turkish banks with the European Commission’s grants for regional development this year. He continued: “Because of this partnership with the European Commission, regional development will have priority. The funding for this year, however, will be less than 2009, and we will be providing SMEs less than 1 billion euros through Turkish banks.” The reason for this decrease, according to Terraillon, was because the bank would be analyzing the loans provided during the crisis in 2009 and that this wasn’t specifically for Turkey but for all countries the bank is involved in.Regarding the energy projects that the EIB will be supporting, Terraillon noted that energy investments by the EIB were second on the list of priorities. He added that there is much interest by foreign firms in Turkey’s renewable energy sector and that the EIB would be encouraging and supporting partnerships between European and Turkish firms to realize these renewable energy projects.
Terraillon, revealing that the bank is currently looking into several wind farm and hydroelectric power plant projects, stated that the bank was planning to support between 300 and 400 million euros worth of such projects, adding that they would continue their support of municipalities’ renewable energy projects this year.
Helen Kavvadia, the senior press officer of the EIB, added that SMEs employ 80 percent of the total workforce in Turkey and that this is why the bank was focusing on providing them with funding. She reminded the attendees that the executive board of the EIB would have their monthly meeting in İstanbul for the first time in October. Kavvadia highlighted that the economic ministers of the 27 European Union countries and upper-level managers would be in İstanbul for the meeting.
