Adopted in September 2017 and inspired by the Juncker Plan (EFSI), the EU External Investment Plan supports investment in African and European Neighbourhood countries. The European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) is the financing mechanism through which the EIP supports investments by public financial institutions and the private sector.  

Today the European Commission has signed a technical assistance agreement with FMO, the Dutch development bank, to train entrepreneurs and support local banks in serving new customer groups, such as women, migrants and young people. FMO will co-finance the €4 million agreement with more than €1 million from its own resources.

Both agreements will facilitate the implementation of NASIRA programme, one of 28 financial guarantees backed by the EU External Investment Plan. NASIRA, which means “the helper” in Arabic, will enable small business owners to access affordable loans through local banks, microfinance institutions and other non-banking financial institutions.

The EU’s guarantee of up to €75 million will enable FMO to mobilise between €500 million and €1 billion in overall investment and create or support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the EU Neighbourhood region and in Sub-Saharan Africa.