Brussels, 10/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Mauritania will be able to count on around €195 million in aid for the 2014-2020 period under development cooperation with the EU. The aid will be focused on food security, the rule of law and healthcare, and was announced by European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in Nouakchott, after travelling to Senegal and Cape Verde, during his visit to the ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) group of countries. The aid will be financed by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
Mauritania is the 2014 holder of the rotating African Union presidency. Together with Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who is a member of the UN high-level committee on the future global framework for development post-2015, and Mauritania's Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdhaf, Piebalgs discussed the global development agenda and the fourth EU-Africa summit which will be held in Brussels on 3-4 April on the theme of investing in man, prosperity and peace. The ongoing bilateral cooperation between the EU and Mauritania, fishing and the role Mauritania has to play in security in the whole Sahel region were also expected to be on the discussion agenda.
“The country [Mauritania] will have a particularly important part to play in the forthcoming EU-AU summit. Mauritania also has a vital role in helping to keep the Sahel region stable due to its location. There can be no development without security, and I would like to congratulate the country on all the work it is doing to make the country, and the wider region, more stable”, said Piebalgs in a press release on Monday.
Piebalgs said his tour in West Africa had enabled him to open new cooperation perspectives between the EU and Africa. “In energy, in the private sector and in infrastructure, for example, we're committed to looking at innovative ways of working which can benefit people as much as possible by boosting growth, jobs and investment”, he said.
For the preceding period (2007-2013), under the 10th EDF, the EU allocated €209 million to Mauritania. This included €25 million for the EU holistic strategy to promote security and development in the Sahel, €11 million for the Millennium development goals, and €8 million as part of the Vulnerability Flex (or V-FLEX) mechanism which helps countries respond to the effects of the economic crisis. For 2014-2020, the EU has announced €6.4 billion for cooperation between the EU and the 16 ACP countries of West Africa (see EUROPE 10953). (AN/transl.fl)