- EIB lends EUR 40 million to State Enterprise, Senate Properties, Helsinki, for building, rehabilitating and extending as well as furnishing and equipping around hundred buildings dedicated to higher education and research throughout Finland. It represents the third tranche of a total loan of EUR 300 million. The facilities being financed are expected to make a significant contribution to the national strategy adopted for Finnish higher education and research that focuses on maintaining highest possible standards in university and research premises and improving cooperation between academia and industry. Such closer cooperation aims at transferring research findings into new business opportunities, particularly in the information technology and biotechnology sectors, and creating new jobs.
- The EIB lends a further EUR 50 million to the City of Espoo to finance the upgrading and refurbishment of educational facilities as well as building new schools in the years up to 2006. Schemes cover both comprehensive and upper secondary school
- Also, a global loan of EUR 100 million has been granted to OKO Bank. The global loan will be used for financing small and medium-sized investments carried out by municipalities and municipality-owned companies throughout Finland. Apart from local infrastructure the sectors to be financed also include health and education.
Mr Sauli Niinistö, the EIB Vice-President responsible for lending in Finland, Sweden, the Baltic States and Russia, commented on the loans signed today The education sector loans are in alignment with the EIB lending priority arising from the conclusions of the European Council of Lisbon in 2000 supporting investment leading to the establishment of a knowledge-based society in Europe. The EIB's approach to implementation of the Lisbon Strategy is focused on the links between knowledge creation and the market. It involves all phases of the education cycle, Research and Development, the transformation of innovation into investment, productivity gains and increased competitiveness of the European economy.
EIB is also pleased to continue its cooperation with OKO Bank through this new Global Loan contributing to economic development and employment throughout Finland and particularly in Assisted Areas.
The EIB is the EU's financing institution, owned by its Member States. Its remit is to support EU policies by financing economically viable investment projects. Contributing to a regionally balanced development of the EU and its social cohesion is its first lending priority, support for the European Council's objective, decided at the EU Lisbon Summit in 2000, to make EU a more innovative and competitive area, is another one. The EIB's AAA credit rating allows for borrowing funds at very keen terms in international capital markets and, as a non-profit institution, to on-lend these funds at favourable rates.
EIB's lending in Finland since 1995 amounts to EUR 4.8 billion.