Italy joins EIF-led EU initiative to bolster trade with Ukraine by offering export guarantees

• Italy will become one of ten EU countries participating in European push to support trade with Ukraine.
• The InvestEU-supported Ukraine Export Credit Guarantee Facility is providing a total of €300 million in EIF guarantees, with SACE receiving €24 million of the total.
• Backed by EIF, the initiative will support as many as 550 EU exporters, including around 90 Italian companies.

An EU initiative to facilitate exports to Ukraine gained significant momentum today when Italy joined. Italian export credit agency SACE officially signed up to the InvestEU Ukraine Export Credit Guarantee Facility – a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF, part of the EIB Group).

The facility is providing a total of €300 million in EIF guarantees for the participating national export credit agencies. SACE is receiving €24 million of the total. Under the facility, national export credit agencies in the European Union (like SACE in Italy) and the EIF offer guarantees and counter-guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps exporting goods and services to Ukraine. It is projected to benefit more than 550 EU exporters including 90 in Italy.

“This is a real boost for Ukraine’s recovery, a win-win solution for its recovery and functioning of its economy. It enables EU companies to keep trading and investing in Ukraine when it matters most,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño.

Italy is participating in the initiative along with nine other EU countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. The goal is to encourage EU exports to Ukraine of goods such as machinery, construction materials and advanced technologies as well as services that are critical for the country’s economy and reconstruction amid Russia’s war. In addition to the ten participating EU countries, a further three Member States that have yet to be announced are scheduled to join the facility.

Started in mid-2024, the facility generated immediate interest from EU businesses, ensuring demand for the full amount of EIF guarantees. The EIF support helps businesses to maintain existing exports to Ukraine and encourages new EU trade ties with the country.

“Backed by the EU budget, the facility supports EU businesses to continue and step up trade with Ukraine,” said European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification Valdis Dombrovskis. “It represents a significant step forward in further integrating the EU and Ukrainian economies, which is a crucial element of Ukraine’s accession process.”

“Ukraine’s recovery depends not only on international aid, but on restoring and expanding real economic partnerships – partnerships based on trade, industrial cooperation, and shared long-term interests,” said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko. “That’s why we welcome the strong commitment of EU Member States to support their exporters working with Ukraine. The Ukraine Export Credit Guarantee Facility is a strategic tool that helps businesses on both sides mitigate risks, unlock opportunities, and build confidence in Ukraine as a market that is open, resilient and future-oriented.”

“We are proud and honoured to once again support Ukraine by helping to back investments to promote recovery, reconstruction and development,” said SACE CEO and General Manager Alessandra Ricci. “As exports and investments are key elements of bilateral relations between our countries, SACE will provide all of its support, tools and insurance and financial solutions to back our shared goals.”

Background information

The European Investment Fund (EIF) Group is part of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group). It supports Europe’s SMEs by improving their access to finance through a wide range of selected financial intermediaries. The EIF designs, promotes and implements equity and debt financing instruments targeting SMEs. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, the green and digital transitions and employment.

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps to crowd in private investment for the European Union’s strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition.  The InvestEU programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments currently available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal.  The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. With the InvestEU mandate, European institutions – led by European Commission and EIB Group – aim to mobilise more than €372 billion of public and private investments to finance sustainable investment, innovation and job creation throughout Europe over the period 2021-2027.

SACE is an insurance and finance company owned by the Italian Ministry for the Economy and Finance. It specialises in helping Italian companies to grow through a wide range of tools and solutions backing exports and innovation, including financial guarantees, factoring, risk management and protection, advisory services and business matching. With a network of 11 offices in Italy and 13 more in Made in Italy target countries around the world, SACE currently supports 60 000 companies, enabling them to reach their national and international potential with a portfolio of insurance operations and guaranteed investments worth approximately €270 billion in 200 global markets.

Press contacts

EIF: l.squintani@eib.org, tel.: +39 366 57 90 312

Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – press@eib.org

SACE: Press Office ufficiostampa@sace.it