European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide 250 million euros to Bangladesh to support procurement of safe and effective vaccines and country-wide immunisation against Covid-19.
Vaccination efforts will also include Rohingya refugees from Myanmar currently hosted in Bangladesh, according to an EIB press release received here on Thursday.
This is the first operation allocated under the Euro 425 million South Asia Public Healthcare Covid-19 programme approved by the EIB, largest multilateral lender in the world, in 2021.
This programme aims to provide long-term support for Covid-19 vaccination, pandemic preparedness and health system resilience in Bangladesh, the Maldives and potentially other countries in South Asia.
EIB Vice-President Christian Kettel Thomsen, responsible for operations in South Asia, said together with the Euro 1.3 billion in EIB support already extended to the COVAX vaccine-procurement initiative, operations like these were a key step in accelerating global immunisation and a quick and effective victory over the virus.
“At the same time, this operation underlines our strong, long-term commitment to working with other members of Team Europe and the Government of Bangladesh to ensure a safe, green and sustainable future for Bangladesh and its people,” he added
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the EIB has been providing long-term financing to support national healthcare systems, including accelerating local vaccine deployment in countries throughout the world.
The EU bank has been supporting vaccine research and production as well as Covid-19 diagnosis and treatments.
Last year, the EIB Group provided Euro 8.1 billion of financing to projects in more than 160 countries outside the European Union including Bangladesh, bringing the total amount of investments outside the EU to more than Euro 1.5 trillion.
Since the beginning of its operations in Bangladesh in 2000, the EIB has supported seven projects in the country and invested close to €753.2 million in transport, energy, water and wastewater management projects.
