On 11 November, the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) held its 34^th Project Financiers’ Group Meeting (PFG) virtually. The meeting co-chaired by EC-NEAR and EIB, was attended by over 100 participants from the European Commission, financial institutions (EIB, EBRD, CEB, KfW, WBG, AFD, EIF and IFC), the bilateral donors and all six Western Balkan beneficiaries.

The meeting started with a presentation of the balance of the EWBJF by EBRD and of the outcomes of the screening and assessment of TA Round 28 and the INV Round 7. In response to the energy crisis, INV Round 7 had an extended deadline for energy projects addressing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy generation. All in all, 12 INV grant applications for a total grant consideration of €390 million were screened and assessed positively. Half of these flagship investments address renewable energy generation, in response to the current energy crisis. Five TA grant applications for a total grant consideration of €10.4 million were also screened and assessed positively.

The selected INV and TA grant applications will be submitted for endorsement by the WBIF Strategic and Operational Board at the 3rd SOB Meeting on 5 December 2022, where the 2nd Call for Private Sector blending will also be launched.

Finally, the WBIF Key Achievements 2021 (Annual Report) and “Hard milestone” table of key EIP INV projects were presented. A review meeting was announced for the 18 November where EC-NEAR, IFIs and the beneficiaries will review project progress and discuss the implementation targets for 2023, identify bottlenecks and agree on strategies and concrete actions how to address them.