"European Investment Bank Forum : "Connecting Europe: Financing mobility and sustainable cities”."

"This Forum will tackle the twin challenges of financing mobility in Europe whilst ensuring that our cities remain healthy and pleasant places in which to live and work. The performance of Europe’s transport infrastructure and services is central to the economies and the task of maintaining our competitive place in the world. Equally, sustainable cities are essential for the quality of life and long term prosperity of European citizens. Matching the mobility and sustainability goals is not easy and requires an intelligent use of scarce resources. Faced with the current economic challenges, Europe needs to develop new investment mechanisms and new sources of finance in order to turn these ambitious goals into effective policies and well-performing assets. The EIB believes that this can only be achieved with the active engagement of all interested parties. The two-day conference, at the Barcelona Convention Centre CCIB, is an agenda-setting event offering decision-makers, investors and professionals a platform for debating Europe’s transport infrastructure needs and policies to ensure the sustainable development of our cities. The Forum will be opened by EU Commissioner Antonio Tajani and Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank. Other confirmed speakers include Magdalena Alvarez, Spain’s Minister for Infrastructure; Petr Bendl, Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic; Jos Dings, Director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment; Johannes Ludewig, Excecutive Director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies; José Montilla i Aguilera, President of the Government of Catalonia as well as Jack Short, Chairman of the International Transport Forum. Speeches and presentations will be followed by interactive panel discussions and a series of technical workshops. Read more:

• EIB - website

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