Brussels, 29/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Mozambique (an ACP country linked to the European Union by the Cotonu Agreement) will be granted €67.3 million to fight against hunger and malnutrition, the European Commission announced on Thursday 29 November. The funding decision by the European Development Fund (10th EDF) involves a new aid programme aiming, on the one hand, to improve agricultural and fisheries production, and on the other hand, to increase access to food for the most vulnerable groups - particularly women and children. The decision was taken as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiative which aims to accelerate progress towards achievement of the MDGs.
“Hungry people lack the energy to take care of their families, work or go to school. Malnutrition has disastrous and irreversible effects on the physical and mental development of children, which hampers their potential. Projects like this bring us one step closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals together by 2015”, European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said.
From the group of ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) states, 36 benefit collectively from additional aid of €700 million to achieve the MDGs as part of the MDG initiative, announced by the EU in September 2010 at the UN summit on the mid-way evaluation and MDG perspectives.
The funding - taken from the €1 billion allocated to this EU initiative - will go to projects to reduce hunger, to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal health, and to increase access to drinking water and basic sanitation installations. The achievement of these MDGs is particularly slow in Sub-Saharan Africa. (AN/transl.fl)