EIB President offers support to tackle Ebola crisis at UN meeting

Mrs Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response and Mr Werner Hoyer, President of the EIB

EIB President Werner Hoyer spoke at the meeting convened by the United Nations about the Impact of the Ebola Crisis: A Perspective from Countries. The meeting was hosted by the World Bank in the framework of the IMF/World Bank Group Annual meetings in Washington DC. Among others, the session brought together the Presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

President Hoyer said that the EIB was ready to cooperate with the European Commission, EU Member States, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank and other African and international partners in tackling the crisis. Whilst the EIB runs a substantial volume of operations across the African continent, it is not an operational aid agency, and it will focus on action which draws on its expertise and remit. In partnership with others, the EIB will focus on supporting programmes to develop the social, medical and economic infrastructure in relevant areas; on supporting R&D programmes capable of contributing to the development of disease prevention and therapy; and on working with the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank and others to develop financial instruments capable of mitigating the economic costs of Ebola and other pandemic diseases.