On 19 December, Katarína Mathernová, Deputy Director-General in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations and chair of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), and Alfonso Garcia Mora, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Vice President for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, signed the Eco-Industrial Parks project, the first IFC led project implemented through WBIF.

The Eco-Industrial Parks project aims to help advance de-carbonisation and improve resource efficiency of industrial parks across the Western Balkans. Preliminary diagnostic will be followed by targeted implementation of four pilot projects in industrial parks across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania.

IFC, together with the World Bank, is the latest international financial institution to join WBIF, creating a partnership of critical importance to support private sector activity in the region, addressing urgent development issues, creating jobs, and ensuring long-term sustainability. Other projects in the pipeline aim to mobilize guaranteed financial instruments for creditworthy agribusiness clients, enabling much-needed sector modernization, digital transformation and help improve climate related capacity of financial intermediaries, allowing them to expand their outreach to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).