European Investment Bank prepares to relaunch operations in Türkiye

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the world's largest multilateral financial institution, has started preparing to relaunch operations in Türkiye, an EIB spokesperson told Anadolu.

"The EIB has been invited to review its engagement with Türkiye by the European Council and the European Commission," the spokesperson said.

"This process on a possible re-engagement with Türkiye, in a phased, proportionate and reversible manner as proposed by the Council conclusions, has now been started," they said.

The spokesperson said that the EIB's activities in Türkiye will focus on areas of mutual interest for Türkiye and the EU, especially in the support for climate action, green transformation, post-earthquake recovery, and migration-related issues.

"EIB Global has financed more than €30 billion ($31.2 billion) in Türkiye since it started operations in the country in 1965," they said, noting that the bank's latest operation was a financing agreement of $416.4 million last year for the restoration of water and wastewater infrastructure in the earthquake-stricken zones.

The Luxembourg-based bank had suspended its operations in Türkiye in 2019 due to tensions over Türkiye's oil and gas exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The EU countries also suspended accession negotiations with Türkiye, high-level dialogue mechanisms, reduced the instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) funds, froze EIB-issued loans, and suspended comprehensive aviation negotiations.

Recent diplomatic developments brought about a more positive atmosphere in Türkiye-EU relations but the negative impact of the EU's decisions against the country in 2019 still lingers, one of which was the suspension of EIB activities and most of the new loans planned to be made in 2019.

Before the decisions, the EIB was financing Türkiye an average of $1.4 to $2.1 billion per year for various projects. The bank provided over $2.2 billion to projects in Türkiye in 2016.

Since starting operations in 1965, the bank has financed $32.1 billion for 263 projects in Türkiye.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.

Von der Leyen stated in a press conference after the meeting that Türkiye-EU relations are rich and complex.

"Our economic relationship is stronger than ever," she said, noting that the bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and the EU reached €206 billion ($214.5 billion) last year.

She said that the EU is Türkiye's largest partner in trade and investments, and the commission aims to increase this partnership further.

Von der Leyen mentioned that the EU and Türkiye launched a high-level dialogue on trade in June and that they will now start a high-level dialogue on the economy.

She added that they are exploring opportunities for the EIB to resume operations in the country and that she looks forward to continuing talks to update the Customs Union.