Santa Cruz de la Sierra, February 6, 2019.- The European Bank of Investments (EIB) and FONPLATA have met in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, to move forward with the line of credit between both institutions. The agreement shall provide funds for projects on urban and rural development focused on mitigating and adjusting to the effects of climate change in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The purpose of the mission was to fully implement the first group of projects to be funded with part of the resources of the loan: in Bolivia, the project “Harvesting Water, Spreading Light”, which facilitates the access to basic services; in Brazil, the program for the integrated development of Corumbá; and, in Argentina, the Emergencies project to mitigate the effects of “El Niño”.

As part of the joint work of both institutions, a workshop was carried out in order to strengthen the implementation of social and environmental practices and gender policies. EIB and FONPLATA facilitators presented the best international practices related to projects’ planning, implementation, execution, and follow up. Once the workshop was finished, both institutions went on a field mission to check the progress of the works in the Municipality of Corumbá, Brazil.

In 2018, the European Investment Bank provided a 60-million-US-dollar loan, which shall be supplemented with an additional 60-million-US-dollar investment of FONPLATA, reaching a total investment of 120 million US dollars in the region.