(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JULY 06 - The European Commission has
today announced additional support for countries in the Eastern
and Southern Neighbourhood in areas such as road building,
climate change, energy or supporting businesses. Brussels
decided to give 150 million euros of extra funding to the
Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) for this year. 700
million euros have already been foreseen for the period of
2007-2013, out of which 395 million euros have been already
allocated. In 2011 91,3 millions have been the contribution of
NIF to the Southern neighbourhood countries, including the
extension of the metro system in Cairo.
According to Stefan Fule, Commissioner for European
Neighbourhood Policy, ''the Neighbourhood Investment Facility
helps our partners to make a difference in the areas where it is
needed most, like energy, transport, the environment or the
social sector. It also helps generate additional financial
resources and to deliver on concrete projects''.
Thanks to the NIF, the European Neighbourhood Fund 'SANAD
(which means 'support' in Arabic), was established to help
micro, small and medium enterprises particularly affected by the
financial crisis in the Southern Neighbourhood. (ANSAmed)