The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a commitment of USD 22 million with LCP FUND II COÖPERATIEF U.A., a generalist private equity fund targeting primarily growth capital investments in SMEs and mid-market companies in Egypt.

At the first closing, the fund attracted USD 140 million of commitments, including from other international investors; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation, Proparco and the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund.

The fund manager, LCP FUND MANAGER BV will adopt a hands-on value-adding investment strategy and will seek to invest in enterprises with robust growth potential in important economic sectors including education, healthcare, manufacturing and services.

The fund seeks to contribute to the development of the private sector in Egypt by increasing access to capital for local SMEs and mid-market companies and supporting their growth and continued institutionalisation. Additionally, the Fund’s portfolio companies are anticipated to contribute to strong job creation.

The EIB’s investment comes in the framework of the Bank’s Economic Resilience Initiative Risk Capital Facility (ERI RCF). The facility seeks to foster private sector development and job creation through investments in venture capital and private equity funds. It blends EIB own resources with donors resources from the Economic Resilience Initiative Fund to unlock more opportunities for the private sector in the southern Mediterranean region. 

Background information

The Risk Capital Facility for the Southern Neighbourhood countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria[1] and the West Bank and Gaza), set up by the European Commission and EIB, provides access to equity and debt financing to SMEs in the Mediterranean region in order to support private sector development, inclusive growth and private sector job creation.The main activities of the facility include: investing in private equity funds; investing in and lending to microfinance institutions and microfinance investment vehicles; and providing Technical Assistance to financial intermediaries (private equity funds, microfinance institutions, microfinance investment vehicles, banks and other financial institutions) or final beneficiaries.

[1] Following EU sanctions in November 2011, the EIB has suspended all loan disbursements and technical advisory contracts for projects in Syria. The same will apply for the Risk Capital Facility.

Are you a university student interested in international relations? Is a working experience part of your course? Are you curious to learn more about work of a diplomatic mission and how the EU Delegation represents EU interests and values in the Russian Federation?

What we offer?

A traineeship of up to 6 months for students undertaking a compulsory traineeship as part of their studies, within the following sections of the
EU Delegation to the Russian Federation, starting in November 2020, subject to respect to the local legislation.

Sections:

• Political (acronym POL)
• Trade (acronym TRA)
• Other EU Policies (acronym OEUP)
• Press and Information (acronym P&I)

Main tasks:

• research and analysis of information;
• draft analytical reports on various policy developments in Russia;
• update the Delegation’s social media platforms;
• attend and participate in meetings, cultural and visibility events, seminars and conferences in Moscow;
• support the Delegation in the preparation of visits, missions and meetings as well as follow-up actions.

Qualifications or special requirements:

• interest in – and preferably prior knowledge of – Russian and post-soviet space politics;
• ability to handle politically sensitive issues in a responsible manner;
• excellent analytical and drafting skills;
• excellent English and Russian language skills;

How to apply?

Please send the following documents to the e-mail address
DELEGATION-RUSSIA-JOBS@eeas.europa.eu:

• A detailed Europass curriculum vitae (CV)
• a cover letter describing why you want to participate in a EU traineeship
• a University letter requesting a compulsory traineeship
• and an application form  

Please mention in the subject of your e-mail: Compulsory Traineeship – Your Name/Acronym of the Section

Important information

Before applying you are requested to examine the dedicated website as well as the general eligibility criteria for a compulsory traineeships (Article 9 of the Decision ADMIN(2017)28 – Unpaid compulsory traineeships for students already residing and studying in the host country)

All costs related to travel inside the country of residence, visa, insurance, accommodation and living expenses must be borne by either the trainee or the University.

Applications from non-eligible candidates will not be considered. After the evaluation of all applications, shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited for an interview. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email. In case the selected candidate is not able to present the required documents, his/her candidacy will be rejected.

The Delegation informs that even if our Headquarters confirm the eligibility of the selected application, traineeships could be postponed, suspended or even cancelled considering the very evolving context of the COVID-19 outbreak in the host country.

Are you a young graduate interested in international relations? Are you curious to learn more about work of a diplomatic mission and how the EU Delegation represents EU interests and values in Singapore?

What we offer?

A traineeship of up to 6 months within the Trade and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to Singapore, starting in November 2020, subject to respect to the local legislation as well as the national legislation of the candidate(s) if non-resident.

The Trade and Economic Section of the Delegation of the European Union to Singapore is in charge of following trade and economic developments in Singapore and to communicate on EU trade and economic policies.

Main tasks:

• Attend and report on conferences, seminars and lectures covering international economic and trade relations, domestic economic policies and institutional matters,  
• Conduct research and drafting background papers on economic policies and political matters,      
• Supply timely and concise information on key trade, economic and political developments affecting Singapore and the region,        
• Assist in the organisation of meetings and events hosted at the Delegation,        
• Draft minutes of meetings.

Qualifications or special requirements:

• In assessing the applications received, account will need to be taken of the COVID-19 situation and its possible effects on access possibilities to Country and thus candidates currently residing in Singapore might be preferred

• General understanding of international trade and economic matters         ,
• Knowledge of EU institutions and policies,
• Eagerness to learn, motivation to work in a team, attention to detail         ,
• Fluency in English,
• Legal or economic background would be an asset.

How to apply?

Please send the following documents to the e-mail address delegation-singapore-internships@eeas.europa.eu:

• A detailed Europass curriculum vitae (CV)
• a cover letter describing why you want to participate in a EU traineeship
• and an application form 

Please mention in the subject of your e-mail: Funded Traineeship – Trade and Economic Section

Important information

Before applying you are requested to examine the dedicated website as well as the general eligibility criteria for a paid traineeship (Article 8 of the Decision ADMIN(2017)28 – Paid traineeship)

Each selected trainee will receive a monthly grant to cover living expenses. All costs related to travel inside the country of residence, visa, insurance, accommodation must be borne by the trainee.

Applications from non-eligible candidates will not be considered. After the evaluation of all applications, shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited for an interview. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email. In case the selected candidate is not able to present the required documents, his/her candidacy will be rejected.

Non-resident candidates must provide proof that they will be covered against the risk of a pandemic and the costs of repatriation.

The Delegation informs that even if our Headquarters confirm the eligibility of the selected application, traineeships could be postponed, suspended or even cancelled considering the very evolving context of the COVID-19 outbreak in the host country as well as in the country of origin.

The R-based tool epitweetr allows users to automatically monitor trends of tweets by time, place and topic, with the aim of detecting public health threats early through signals, such as an unusual increase in the number of tweets. It was designed to support public health experts with the early detection of threats from infectious diseases but can be extended to all hazards and other fields of study by modifying the topics and keywords.

The epitweetr package includes an interactive web application (based on the R package Shiny) with five pages:

1. Dashboard, where a user can visualise and explore tweets, and download the associated outputs and data;
2. Alerts page, where you can view the current alerts and associated information;
3. Geotag evaluation page, where you can evaluate the geolocation algorithm in different tweet fields to manually choose the geolocation threshold;
4. Configuration page, where you can change settings and check the status of the underlying processes;
5. Troubleshooting page, with automatic checks and hints for using epitweetr with all its functionalities.

To make epitweetr as widely available as possible, R was chosen as the computing platform. R is free, open source, and runs on any modern operating system.

epitweetr can be downloaded free of charge from the ECDC website, the CRAN website (for CRAN users) or GitHub (for GitHub users).