The European Commission – Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB), organised the webinar ‘Can financial instruments help promoting rural infrastructure?’, which took place on Wednesday, 15 December 2021.
Predominantly rural areas make up half of Europe and represent around 20% of the population. However, most of these rural areas are also among the least favoured regions in the EU. The webinar focused on the main findings of the study ‘Explore the opportunities for financial instruments in rural infrastructure’, conducted by the European Investment Advisory Hub, with a particular analysis on the opportunities to implement financial instruments in the support of rural infrastructure in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Poland and Spain.
Watch the event recording:
Participants heard about the market conditions and the motivating factors for the involved stakeholders when it comes to financing rural infrastructure, and how the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) can support the achievement of the three objectives of EU’s rural development policy: improving the competitiveness of agriculture, achieving sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, and a balanced territorial development of rural areas.
In addition, representatives from managing authorities, financial intermediaries and other relevant stakeholders from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Spain shared insights in view of using financial instruments to help promoting rural infrastructure.
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The audio in the video files is in original language of the speakers. The English interpretation is available as audio files.
| Title | Speakers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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Opening statement | Michael Pielke, Head of Unit F3, DG AGRI, European Commission |
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Exploring the opportunities for financial instruments in rural infrastructure – main findings from analysis in 5 EU Member States |
Nikolaos Tritaris, Senior Investment Platform Advisor, European Investment Bank |
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Experience with financing small and medium municipalities in Bulgaria |
Iva Petkova, Director, Fund for local authorities and governments |
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Country specific analysis – Romania |
Ioana Vasile, Senior Consultant, Ernst & Young |
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BOŚ Bank: lessons learned in financing urban projects |
Marek Szczepański, Director, Public Programmes and the EU Projects Department, BOŚ Bank, Poland |
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Financing rural infrastructure in Poland |
Jakub Adamski, Manager, Ernst & Young |
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Financing Irrigation in Aragon, Spain |
Francisco Domínguez Real, Managing Authority of Aragon, Spain |
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Closing remarks |
Nivelin Noev, Policy Officer, DG AGRI, European Commission |
