The EU’s ambitious External Investment Plan (EIP) will encourage investment in our partner countries in Africa and the EU Neighbourhood region. It will promote inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development and so tackle some of the root causes of irregular migration.
The EIP has three parts:
The European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), which includes a financial guarantee and blending instruments to leverage much more public and private investment in sustainable development.
Technical assistance to enable investors and businesses to develop bankable projects, and support for regulatory improvements.
Improving business environment and investment climate in partner countries, including through regular dialogue with governments, businesses and other stakeholders.
The EIP is guided by the general objectives of the EU’s external action and contributes to:
the achievement of the SDGs of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the ‘2030 Agenda’), in particular poverty eradication.
the EU’s commitments under the European Neighbourhood Policy
In 2017, the EU agreed to invest nearly €1.3 billion in 52 blending projects in Africa and the European Neighbourhood under the EIP. The EU contribution will unlock around €10.6 billion in public and private investment which otherwise may not be possible or would be much smaller.
During the first year of the External Investment Plan:
More than 80% of the projects the EU has approved in Sub-Saharan Africa are in least developed countries.
The EU established the Sustainable Business for Africa (SB4A) and the Structural Reform Facility for Eastern Neighbourhood as platforms for structured dialogue on investment climate with the private sector and partner countries.
For the Guarantee, five priority areas for investment were approved: (i) sustainable energy and sustainable connectivity, (ii) micro, small and medium enterprises financing, (iii) sustainable agriculture, rural entrepreneurs and agroindustry, (iv) sustainable cities and (v) digitalisation for sustainable development. The entities entrusted to manage EU funds were invited to submit proposals for investment that the EFSD Guarantee would cover.
