Brussels, 20/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Over a two-day visit to Burundi (21 and 22 February), Andris Piebalgs, the European Development Commissioner, will announce the mobilisation of €68 million, for two projects designed to speed up the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for this ACP country which is one of the least developed. These projects will be funded by the European Development Fund (EDF).
The first project, for a total of €18 million, aims to reinforce food security and help some 20,000 households and 80,000 children suffering from malnutrition.
The second, with an envelope of €50 million, aims to provide a million people with sustainable energy, by bringing electricity to rural areas, funding small and medium-sized hydraulic energy projects and improving energy infrastructure, in a country where just 3.5% of the population has access to electricity.
In Burundi, the current rate of chronic malnutrition in children of less than five years old is 58%, one of the highest rates for more than 20 years. As for the energy situation, this remains one of the worst in the world, with most people subjected to frequent power cuts, the Commissioner stressed on the eve of his departure.
The programme to reinforce food security aims to improve farmers' access to seeds and fertiliser, and to improve the access of their products to the markets, particularly by improving storage and support for product processing. This comes as part of the European initiative for the MDGs, which helps the ACP countries significantly behind on their achievement of the MDGs to catch up, and those which have made good progress towards achieving these MDGs must be encouraged.
The sustainable energy project will help Burundi to overcome what has been a major obstacle to its development and will allow the EU to contribute to the “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative headed up by the United Nations, which aims to provide 500 million people with energy by 2030. (AN/transl.fl)