Brussels - European Union finance ministers agreed Wednesday to strengthen support for infrastructure investments in the Western Balkans. At a meeting in Brussels, officials also gave their backing to a 1 billion euros (1.55 billion dollars) lending facility through the European Investment Bank and other international financial institutions.
The EU has so far focussed on helping build roads and power plants but hopes to finance the region's small- and medium-sized businesses in the coming years.
Since 1995, the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank has granted loans totalling 2.5 billion euros to the region. More than half of the money has gone to finance projects in the transport sector.
Serbia has emerged as the biggest recipient with 1.2 billion euros since 2000, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (754 million) and Albania (304 million).
