00:00Mr. Moro, welcome to Euronews interview.
00:03EIB has significantly expanded its engagement in Central Asia,
00:07with the regional pipeline now approaching 3 billion euros.
00:11What specific projects or sectors in Kazakhstan
00:15are currently closest to receiving EIB financing?
00:18Well, there are projects which have already received EIB financing.
00:23We are mainly speaking about the projects in the area of transport.
00:27We signed a loan with Kazakhstan of 150 million euros.
00:33There was a framework loan with the Development Bank of Kazakhstan
00:38of 200 million euros aimed at both transport and energy.
00:43And this was even then enlarged by a letter of intent
00:47to increase this amount by 120 million euros.
00:52So transport is definitely one area of our interest.
00:56road rehabilitation that we also can look at the railways.
01:01We had a very good meeting today with the Ministry of Transport,
01:05with the Minister of Transport.
01:06He mentioned to us one of the possible future projects
01:10that Kazakhstan would build special roads for autonomous trucks,
01:16which could cross Kazakhstan, and these trucks could be even electric,
01:22and maybe of European origin.
01:25Energy is another very important area.
01:28Maybe energy combined with water management.
01:30And there I have particularly in mind the big Kyrgyz project,
01:36Kambarata 1, for which we allocated in total 900 million euros,
01:41both for three countries, for Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
01:45But of this big amount, 200 million euros are allocated for Kazakhstan,
01:51be it for water management or maybe energy grids.
01:55So all that are areas which would be of interest for us.
01:59And we have a project which we are already financing in digital connectivity.
02:04We finance a Luxembourg-based company,
02:06which allowed already to connect more than 300 Kazakh villages.
02:10What are the main factors that make projects bankable
02:13and what regulatory or institutional barriers still need to be addressed?
02:19If we speak about the European Investment Bank,
02:22there are, let's say, two groups, broadly speaking, of conditions
02:26which a project would need to be fulfilled if we were ready to finance it.
02:32One are the already mentioned environmental and social standards
02:36to which we put a lot of attention, which means that some of the areas could be excluded.
02:44For instance, we would not finance anything linked to coal industry
02:49or coal technologies or gas technologies.
02:51So we would like to see, let's say, green technologies.
02:54When I spoke about the cars, the autonomous cars,
02:57this is something we would normally be very keen in investing.
03:01And the other part which is of interest for the European Investment Bank
03:06is that we would like to have a win-win situation.
03:10Both win for Kazakhstan but also win for European economy or for European industry.
03:16So we would like to see if we finance a project in Kazakhstan
03:19that, of course, is there to support the Kazakh industry.
03:22But if possible, if there was a European content,
03:25it's really something which we would be very much interested in.
03:29But then, these are, let's say, the general conditions.
03:32You asked me what would make a project bankable.
03:35This is basically, there are many, many fields.
03:39It has to be predictable.
03:40There should be this determination, which I said it should be about clarity
03:44about what the project is about.
03:46There should be very transparent procurement rules.
03:49So there are several conditions which need to be fulfilled
03:52in order that we are ready to put our money on the table.
03:56And finally, EIB has now its representative office in Tashkent.
04:01How will that affect the balance of investment into separate Central Asian countries?
04:08Will that facilitate interstate projects like maybe in water management
04:14or you mentioned Kambarata? How will that work?
04:16So let me first say that by opening our office in Central Asia,
04:21we already showed our interest in this strategic region.
04:24Point number one. Point number two.
04:27Kazakhstan is the country with the so far strongest pipeline in the whole region.
04:33That we would be, of course, very much interested,
04:35not only in financing the individual country projects,
04:39but if there was a cross-country project, it would be even more interesting for us
04:43because we would also see a potential for development of the whole region.
04:47Kambarata 1 is one such project because there are three countries involved,
04:52Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, but there could be other projects.
04:56Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
04:58With pleasure. I am very glad to be here.
