The European Investment Bank (EIB) will allocate a EUR 250 million loan to Georgia to upgrade the priority road infrastructure in the country, the EIB and the Georgian Finance Ministry reported on Thursday. 
 
The loan agreement was signed by the Georgian Finance Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister, Dimitri Kumsishvili, Minister for Regional Development and Infrastructure, Zurab Alavidze, and EIB Vice-President Vazil Hudák on the sideline of the 14th Batumi International Conference on July 13. 
 
“The financial and technical support that we receive from Europe on a daily basis is very important for us. All these steps should ultimately be directed towards rapid completion of infrastructure development in our country that will strengthen Georgia’s transit potential and simplify transportation inside the country,” Georgian Finance Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili said after signing the document. 
 
The EUR 250m loan is the second and last tranche of a EUR 500m framework loan for the construction and rehabilitation of approximately 253km of priority primary and secondary roads identified by Georgia’s Government for the 2017-2020 period.
 
The European Investment Bank also increased its support by EUR 3.5m to finance the completion of rehabilitation works at Vardnili and Enguri HPP cascade in Georgia.
 
Speaking at the 14th Batumi International Conference, Vice-President Hudák highlighted the ten-year successful cooperation between the EIB and Georgia, noting that the Bank has so far supported 21 projects with a total loan volume of over EUR 1.5bn in the country.
 
“Our ultimate goal is job creation, economic growth and improved living standards and the loans that we signed today go firmly in that direction,” he said.