OREANDA-NEWS. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced its support for the extension of the Westmetro in Espoo, in Finland’s capital region. During an official EIB visit to Finland, President Werner Hoyer signed the first EUR 100m tranche of financing.

During the visit the EIB delegation, headed by President Werner Hoyer and Vice-President Jan Vapaavuori, held talks with Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo, and had a lunch meeting with Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn. Among the topics of discussion was the economic outlook for Finland and the EU, as well as future EIB support for projects in various sectors of the Finnish economy. In the afternoon, President Hoyerand VP Vapaavuori travelled to Espoo to sign the loan agreement for the West Metro extension.

“Operations like this show that the benefits of the EIB’s operations are quite tangible on the ground," said President Werner Hoyer of the operation. “The mission of the EU Bank is to improve people’s lives through the transactions it performs; I think that helping to improve local public transport is a very good way of doing that. If citizens can travel faster and more comfortably, that improves their lives, even if they don’t always realise it.”

“The West Metro extension in Espoo is not only an investment in public transport but also an investment for the whole area. The West Metro’s growth and development corridor links up the southern part of the city and connects the whole area to the metropolitan area of Helsinki,” stated Mayor of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä.