(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 27. The EuropeanInvestment bank (EIB) is participating in COP29 preparations tocontribute to its successful outcome, Vice-President of theEuropean investment Bank Teresa Czerwińska said in an exclusiveinterview with Trend .
"As EU Climate Bank, EIB is one of the largest providers ofclimate finance, supporting climate change mitigation projects suchas green energy and green transport as well as climate changeadaptation projects. Together with the group of multilateraldevelopment banks, we are participating in COP29 preparations tocontribute to a successful outcome of the climate summit inNovember 2024. These aspects were discussed by EIB President NadiaCalviño and COP29 President Designate, Minister Mukhtar Babayev inWashington DC in April this year," she said.
Czerwińska noted that EIB is dedicated to promoting flagshipinitiatives of the Economic Investment Plan such as improvingaccess to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises(MSMEs), with special attention to young entrepreneurs, women inbusiness, and rural development.
"Our MSME Outreach Initiative for the Southern Caucasus willhelp create or sustain approximately 26 500 jobs in the region,fostering private sector-driven growth and social inclusion. Aspart of the initiative, we recently signed a €10 million loanagreement with Bank Respublika to provide funding for MSMEs atfavourable loan conditions, including longer term funding," sheadded.
The Vice-President pointed out that in addition to financing,EIB Global provides advisory support and technical assistance forproject preparation and implementation.
"Currently, we are providing advisory support for safetyenhancements at level-crossings along the Baku - Boyuk KesikRailway Corridor, an important TEN-T link in the Middle Corridor support is helping Azerbaijan Railways in analysing andprioritising interventions and in scoping the related designstudies. The EIB provides this support under the Facility forEastern Partnership Investment in Connectivity (EPIC). Funded bythe European Union and managed by our advisory programme JASPERS,EPIC offers Eastern partnership countries free advisory support andtechnical assistance to improve transport connections," saidCzerwińska.
Azerbaijan will host the 29th session of the Conference of theParties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) inNovember this year. The decision was made at the plenary meeting ofCOP28 held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Within two weeks,Baku, having become the center of the world, will host about70,000–80,000 foreign guests.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreementsigned at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangeroushuman interference in the climate system. The acronym COP(Conference of Parties) stands for Conference of Parties, which isthe highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of theFramework Convention on Climate Change.
The parties to the convention are 198 countries. Unless theparties have decided otherwise, COP is held annually. The first COPevent was held in March 1995 in Germany's Berlin, and itssecretariat is located in Bonn.
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