DUSHANBE, May 18, Asia-Plus — Rustamjon Soliyev, Head of Tajikistan’s Mission to the European Union, recently met with Mr. Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Tajik diplomat informed the EIB head of Tajikistan’s hydropower capacity, construction of small and medium-sized power plants in the country and rehabilitation work at the site for construction of the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP).
Soliyev noted that the hydroelectricity projects in Tajikistan would be implemented with due regard to international standards of environmental and social safety and assessment studies for the Roghun project were confirmation for that.
Tajik diplomat stressed that implementation of Tajikistan’s national energy sector development program would promote further socioeconomic development of Central Asia’s countries and reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy.
He called on the European Investment Bank to investment in enhancement of Tajikistan’s energy sector and actively participate in financing of the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and
Trade Project (CASA 1000).
Mr. Maystadt, for his part, reportedly highly appraised the state and prospects of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of energy. He hailed openness and transparency of Tajikistan in implementing hydroelectricity projects and the country’s readiness for a wide and constructive dialogue with neighboring countries on water issues, the source said.
The European Investment Bank is the European Union”s long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions. Recently, the Bank has also been actively supporting European R&D projects as part of EU”s objective of building the world”s leading knowledge-based economy. The EIB is currently also active in 150 countries outside of the EU—non-EU South-Eastern European countries, Mediterranean partner countries, ACP countries, Asian and Latin American countries, Russia and other eastern neighbors of the EU. According to the EIB, in these countries, the institution works to implement the financial pillar of the union”s external cooperation and development policies: private sector development, infrastructure development, security of energy supply, environmental sustainability.
The EIB is an international financial institution, a publicly owned bank. Its owners are the Member States of the European Union, who subscribe to the Bank”s capital. As shareholders the Member States are represented on the Bank”s main independent decision-making bodies – the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors. Since the year 2000 the Bank itself became a member of the EIB Group (including its venture capital arm – the European Investment Fund).
