1. 4 TH Conference of the Water Directors of the Euro-Med & Southeastern European countries Relevancy of the financial resources in addressing main sector issues. EIB contribution Bled, 10 – 11 December 2007 José Frade, European Investment Bank

2. Long catalogue of issues in the regions water sector Global: water scarcity, droughts & floods, impact of climate change (CC), desertification, population growth Social: poverty, low affordability, gender inequity, lack of public awareness & education Environmental: pollution and degradation Political: poor governance & political support, low revenues Managerial: poor performance of systems & allocation of water resources, fragmentation of water management WILL THE CATALOGUE BE THE SAME IN THE YEAR 2020?

3. Key actions & solutions to address the issues Global: plan & design projects to adapt to CC, invest on prevention (not reconstruction), allocate & manage water resources correctly, apply IWRM as a tool (not an objective) Social: use better (target) grants & blend it with other funds, maximise efficiency to minimize costs & tariffs Environmental: prioritise hot spots, invest with support of grants & loans to ensure cost recovery at Wtp levels (afford.) Political: design and set institutions that could perform well, stop keeping tariffs as a political hostage – focus on efficiency Managerial: give utilities all the resources required, reward performance & make it accountable (stop chicken & egg loop)

4. How can financial resources help Global: support technical assistance to ensure proper plan & design of investment + allocation & management of resources Social: donors should: i) coordinate to ensure better use of grants & blending with other funds; ii) fund water efficiency Environmental: fund hot spots with the right blending of funds Political: support TA for institutional restructuring, redesign of utilities and capacity building – if necessary through PPPs Managerial: support TA for reorganisation, project preparation and implementation ensuring transfer of know-how HOW COULD THIS CONFERENCE ENDORSE AND INTERNALISE IT?

5. The EIB contribution TA available under FEMIP ( www.eib.org/med/index.htm) to support objectives mentioned before. In-house expertise added value The EIB has been and is keen in coordinating better with other donors on best use of TA and blending of funds Strong support and involvement in Horizon 2020: recent study identified 77% of environmental investment needs for wastewater collection and treatment in the MED region EIB is considering a pro-active support to water efficiency: i) resource allocation efficiency; ii) utility efficiency; iii) system efficiency; iv) user consumption efficiency (4 efficiency drivers) WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUGGEST?

6. A FEW DATA ON EIB SUPPORT TO WATER SECTOR FEMIP Portfolio for TA to water & ww (+ waste): 2003 => 14 contracts (39% of total n°) for 5.2 M (30%) 2004 => 9 contracts (28% of total n°) for 4.4 M (20%) 2005 => 18 contracts* (72% of total n°) for 21 M (75%) * include 8 actions identified to be contracted Horizon 2020 – identified projects for possible support: Wastewater: 24 (56% of total) amounting to 1.6 bn (77%) EIB lending in the water sector in the Partner Countries:

7. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION