High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The European Investment Bank is the European Union`s long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions. Recently, the Bank has also been actively supporting European R&D projects as part of EU`s objective of building the world`s leading knowledge-based economy. The EIB is currently also active in 150 countries outside of the EU—non-EU South-Eastern European countries, Mediterranean partner countries, ACP countries, Asian and Latin American countries, Russia and other eastern neighbours of the EU. According to the EIB, in these countries, the institution works to implement the financial pillar of the union`s external cooperation and development policies: private sector development, infrastructure development, security of energy supply, environmental sustainability.