Brussels, 21/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Thirty-six ACP states (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) connected with the EU through the Cotonou Agreement, will be receiving a total of €700 million more aid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), announced the European Commission on Wednesday 21 December. The extra cash will come from the European Development Fund's MDG initiative announced at the UN summit on the mid-term review of the MDG in September 2010.
The cash, part of the billion euros earmarked for the MDG by the EU, will be spent on areas where progress is most needed: hunger, water and sanitation, maternal health and child mortality, goals seriously lagging behind, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, commented: “In line with our recent proposals for the future EU development policy, the 'Agenda for Change', we will invest our money where it is needed most and where we can achieve real results. I am glad that one year after announcing the MDG initiative in New York, we are now ready to finance concrete projects on the ground. Our goal is to do all we can to help developing countries meet the MDGs by 2015, a target to which we are still firmly committed. It remains an uphill struggle, but this is no time for a let up in our efforts.”
Examples of actions to be financed under the MDG initiative include ensuring better access to food for the poorest households in Haiti; providing milk to children in nurseries and primary schools in Rwanda; increasing the number of healthcare professionals in Ghana to reduce maternal mortality; and improving access to save water in Samoa, mainly through rainwater harvesting and better sanitation facilities.
The projects will get under way by the end of 2012 and the Commission, along with EU delegations, member state representatives and the governments of the recipient countries will soon be preparing detailed implementation plans.
The 36 beneficiary countries are Burkina Faso (€25 million), Burundi (€18 million), Central African Republic (€14 million), Chad (€29 million), Comores Islands (€4.5 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (€40 million), Côte d'Ivoire (€25 million), Djibouti (€5.5 million), Gambia (€7.6 million), Ghana (€52 million), Grenada (€0.6 million), Guinea (€8.4 million), Guinea Bissau (€5.5 million), Haiti (€20 million), Kiribati (€4.2 million), Liberia (€32 million), Madagascar (€21.9 million), Malawi (€25 million), Mauritania (€11.1 million), Mozambique (€67.3 million), Namibia (€6 million), Niger (€25 million), Rwanda (€30 million), Santa Lucia (€0.81 million), Samoa (€2.2 million), Sao Tome and Principe (€1.7 million), Sierra Leone (€24.2 million), Somalia (€25 million), Swaziland (€7 million), Tanzania (€51.5 million), Timor Leste (€10.3 million), Togo (€16.7 million), Tuvalu (€0.5 million), Uganda (€30.5 million), Zambia (€44 million) and Zimbabwe (€10 million).
The remaining €300 million or so of the MDG initiative is in the process of being allocated as a reward to 18 well-performing countries, to help them achieve the MDG. (AN/transl.fl)