EFTA

On December 17^th the European Investment Bank and the Norwegian Ministry of Finance celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the first EIB investment in the country. Signed in 1974, the EIB invested in the development of the “Ekofisk” oil and gas field in the North Sea. Since then, the EIB, together with its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund (EIF), has invested nearly €5 billion in Norwegian projects regarding communications, energy, and sustainable transport, and has supported Norwegian banks and venture capital funds in their financing of innovative SMEs.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending Landsnet $63.7 million (ISK 9 billion) for its new generation of power lines. Projects covered by the financing include two new transmission lines that improve the interconnection of Iceland’s north-eastern and eastern regions. The improved connections provide greater security and quality of supply — including a greater degree of network redundancy and network loss reduction — and overcome constraints that limit increases in both generation and consumption.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Free Trade Agreement organisation (EFTA) have agreed a renewal of EIB’s “EFTA Facility”, under which it invests in the four EFTA countries; Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The investment envelope will be extended with a further four years and receive a top-up of €800 million, available as EIB loans in all four countries.