LOUIS BECKERLING

Senior officials from the European Union's policy lending institution, the European Investment Bank (EIB), flew into Beijing last week in the wake of a successful visit by French President Jacques Chirac that netted US$5 billion in mainland contracts for several French companies.

"We discussed some important projects," EIB president Philippe Maystadt said yesterday.

One of the biggest winners to emerge from Mr Chirac's visit to the mainland was struggling French heavy-engineering company and trainmaker Alstom, which signed contracts worth up to €1 billion (HK$9.9 billion).

One deal included an undertaking to supply 60 regional trains to be built in China.

Other contracts for which the EIB could help arrange financing included water- and waste-treatment projects, petrol stations and the sale of six new passenger jets by Airbus. On the cards after the EIB officials' visit to Beijing was funding for an infrastructure project on the mainland, according to Mr Maystadt, who declined to elaborate.

The EIB's mission is to promote EU policies by financing investments that further European integration. Total loans outstanding amounted to €258 billion as of June 30, of which just €1.2 billion worth were made to Asian borrowers.

The EIB has so far helped finance just three projects in China: a €55 million loan for the development of the Ping Hu oil and gas field in 1995; a €24.8 million loan for the construction by a French company of a water-treatment plant in Chengdu; and a €56.2 million loan for the construction of a toll expressway and ancillary roads between Nanning and the Vietnamese border.

Asian investors were showing a growing appetite for EIB-issued bonds to fund its loan programmes, said Mr Maystadt.