EIB to join forces with AIIB in green development projects

The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed agreements of cooperation with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to co-finance green development projects in June, EIB's vice president told China Daily earlier this week during the UN climate talks.

Jonathan Taylor, vice president of EIB, said the bank is willing to co-finance green development projects similar to the metro line project that EIB stepped in to provide funds in India.

EIB provided a 450 million euros ($501 million) long-term loan earlier in April to finance the first metro line in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

"We are discussing projects with AIIB and looking for projects in promising areas such as India, where the country is big enough and there would be enough valuable projects that we can add value on," said Taylor.

Earlier in June, the two banks signed a framework agreement and agreed to broaden cooperation, in an accord seeking to jointly finance strategically important projects.

Taylor said that with similar business models, the two have future opportunities to co-finance projects to address infrastructure financing needs, including climate mitigation, one key financing area of the EIB.

As the world's largest multilateral financer of climate-related projects, EIB is committed to raising the proportion of climate investment in developing countries to 35 percent of its overall lending by 2020