$11bn Fund: Even Europe needs China’s help

China has set up a 10 billion euro ($11.15 billion) investment fund to finance projects in Central and Eastern Europe, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said in a statement issued on Sunday.

This is coming barely few months after China also announced an £18 billion nuclear plant in the UK to be built by Chinese Company.

The new $11 billion fund for announced by Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Riga on Saturday.

According to reuters report, the fund would be run by Sino-CEE Financial Holdings Ltd, a company established by the bank earlier this year.

The fund is aiming to raise 50 billion euros in project finance for sectors such as infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing and consumer goods, the bank said.

While targeting Central and Eastern Europe, it could extend to the rest of Europe and other regions if relevant to China-Central and Eastern Europe co-operation, it said.

The fund will be government-backed but will operate under business principles and be guided by the market, it added.

Central and Eastern Europe are part of China’s modern Silk Road where Beijing is hoping to carve out new export markets for its companies as the domestic economy slows.

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Gao Yan said last year that Chinese companies have already invested more than $5 billion in CEE countries.

In August, Britain announced that its first nuclear plant in 20 years will be built by a leading Chinese nuclear power company, China General Nuclear Power (CGN).

This followed an approval of the Hinkley Point C power plant by the government of Prime Minister Theresa May.

“We are delighted that the British government has decided to proceed with the project. We will continue to work with our strategic partner French EDF to develop nuclear power projects at Hinkley Point, Sizewell and Bradwell, and provide safe, reliable and sustainable low-carbon energy for the UK,” CGN’s spokesman Huang Xiaofei told Xinhua

The UK government said it had confirmed the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant will go ahead following a new agreement with the French company EDF.