Activity under preparation ELMED Plus Power Interconnection - EBRD Part <p class="ql-align-justify">The Neighbourhood Investment Platform (¿NIP¿) is an EU blending facility that addresses critical funding gaps in the EU¿s <a href="https://www.eib.org/projects/regions/southern-neighbours/index.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: windowtext;">Southern</a> and <a href="https://www.eib.org/projects/regions/eastern-neighbours/index.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: windowtext;">Eastern</a> neighbourhood. It provides European Union (¿EU¿) grant support for lending operations led by European multilateral development finance institutions, as well as bilateral development finance institutions of the EU Member States. The objective of the NIP is to leverage EU financing with resources from European Finance Institutions and/or private financiers in order to finance large investment projects in the ENI region.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">A contribution of EUR 28,180,000 (the ¿EU Contribution¿ or ¿EU Contribution to the Programme¿) to the project ¿ELMED Plus Power Interconnection¿ (the ¿Programme¿) was approved by the Board of the NIP following on 12 December 2023 by written procedure.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The EU Contribution to the Programme, complements financing to be provided (i) the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (¿the EBRD¿ or ¿the Organisation¿), (ii) the European Investment Bank (¿EIB¿), (iii) Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (¿KfW¿), (iv) the World Bank (¿WB¿), and (v) the EU¿s Connecting Europe Facility (¿CEF¿). The EBRD, EIB, and KfW considered together as lead financial institutions (the ¿Lead Financial Institutions¿ or ¿LFIs¿).</p><p class="ql-align-justify">With a total cost of EUR 1,087.5 million, the Programme consists of a 200-km 600MW submarine electricity cable connecting Tunisia and Italy, two converter stations, one in each country, as well as associated national grid enforcement in Tunisia. The submarine cable and the convertor stations will be owned and operated jointly by STEG, the Tunisian state-owned electricity and gas utility, and Terna S.p.A, the Italian transmission system operator (TSO), while the national grid enforcement projects will be developed and owned by STEG.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The Programme targets the integration of the Tunisian and Italian electricity grids, ultimately helping accelerate renewables development and roll-out in Tunisia.</p>