Brussels - The European Union's executive is to set up a 100-million-euro (146-million-dollar) fund to trigger investment into clean energy projects in Latin America, officials in
Brussels said Wednesday. The move comes as the EU is pushing for the support of Latin American states for an international deal on fighting climate change at a UN conference in Copenhagen in December.
The European Commission "will set up the Latin American Investment Facility ... The amount dedicated from existing envelopes of the (EU)
budget will be 100 million euros for the period until 2013," the commission said in a report on relations with the region.
The move is "testimony of the significance of both the European Union and Latin
America as important actors on the global scene particularly in facing the challenges like the financial and economic crisis, climate change and migration," EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
The facility will work as a "trigger fund", guaranteeing a financial input to selected projects as a way of encouraging other lenders to put money into them.
"The new Investment Facility will allow for wider investments, particularly on infrastructure, and thus create new jobs and enhance economic development in the region," Ferrero-Waldner said.
The fund should target projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and the use of climate-friendly
renewable energy sources, and boost schemes to help local communities adapt to climate change.
It should also focus on improving
transport and communication links between countries in the region and boosting the role of small and medium-sized countries in the economy.
The funding is expected to come from existing areas in the EU's budget, but the proposal leaves open for "possible additional grant contributions" from EU member states.
The EU founded its "strategic partnership" with the countries of Latin America in 1999 in a bid to boost its influence in an increasingly influential part of the world.
The partnership aims to improve trade ties between the EU and regional groupings in Latin America, and to strengthen cooperation on key issues such as migration, drugs trafficking and human rights.
