The
European Investment Bank (EIB) Group today joined a global fundraising effort
in the fight against the coronavirus. The European Union-led global
Pledging Conference,
co-chaired by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and
other world leaders, aims to raise an initial €7.5 billion to end this
pandemic.
The EU will team up
with partners around the globe to hold a pledging initiative, with the aim of
raising urgently needed funding to develop effective coronavirus vaccines
quickly, build capacity for early manufacturing at scale of diagnostics,
vaccines and treatments. Alongside the funding pledges, the initiative will
also aim to secure high-level political commitment to ensuring equitable access
to products created to tackle this pandemic.
The
EIB is building a pipeline of potential investments in vaccine, treatments and
diagnostics for the fight against COVID-19, leveraging on global partnerships
with organisations including the European Commission, the WHO, and the
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), also with the objective
to achieve sufficient manufacturing capacity. All this effort is complemented
by what
the EIB is doing in health and pandemic preparedness both inside and outside
EU.
The EIB has built a pipeline of projects of around EUR 6 billion of financing
with partners in the health and life science sectors.
EIB President Werner Hoyer said:
“To achieve the greatest global benefits we need solidarity, collaboration and
partnerships, and we need it now. The EIB Group can bring financing and
advisory support, creating firepower to develop a portfolio of COVID-19
vaccines. We also want to ensure that once we have vaccines, their supply is
available everywhere. We have never before seen such a rapid and concerted
effort across the globe to develop vaccines and treatments against a common
enemy. Together with international partners at this global Pledging Conference
we can speed up this work even further and ensure we use every instrument in
our arsenal in the best way possible”.
EUR 770 million will be pledged in partnership and
joint investment by the EIB Group and the European Commission for companies
working on treatments, testing and vaccines. As part of this, the EIB will make
an initial pledge today of 141 million from its own resources. The Commission
will also announce the next milestones of a global campaign, which is to
kick-off an ongoing rolling replenishment over the coming weeks.
Pledging
and international cooperation
The
European Union is teaming up with a broad range of international partners to
bring this initiative to life. This includes co-hosting the pledging moment,
securing funding pledges and firm political commitment to equitable access by
all partner countries, businesses and organisations. To this end the European
Commission have been in contact with partner countries, international
organisations e.g. UN, WHO, G7, G20 and a series of expert worldwide lead
organisations (e.g. Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI,
Global Fund) as well as the pharmaceutical industry and scientific community.
EIB
new initiatives in the health sector
Last
week, the EIB announced a new Memorandum
of Understanding with the WHO, an Advisory
agreement with CEPI, a
collaboration with the Israel
Innovation Authority and a €50 million financing agreement with Pluristem to
develop therapies for COVID-19 and increased
cooperation with UN-Habitat.
Strengthening EIB support for health, life
science and COVID-19 investment
In recent years the European Investment Bank has provided
more than 2 billion EUR annually for health care and life science investment.
In the
context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EIB is currently assessing over 20
projects in the field of vaccine development, diagnostic and treatment, leading
to potential investments in the 770 million EUR range.
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