On Wednesday 7 June, the European Commission announced that the EU has just committed a further €382 million to support the recovery of the Central African Republic (CAR).
A financing agreement for a support programme was signed the same day by European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and the CAR's minister for finance, Félix Moloua, on the sidelines of the European Development Days (EDD) which focus on investment in development.
The €382 million will be taken from the European Development Fund (EDF) and will primarily finance: - support for economic and social governance, especially in the areas of education and health; - support for reform of security and democratic governance; - and resilience in rural areas and job creation.
Most of the €382 million will transit through the European trust fund for the CAR, or the Békou Fund ('Békou' meaning 'hope' in Sangho, the country's main language), which was created in 2015.
Through this aid, the EU is fulfilling some of the commitments it had taken at the Donors Conference for the CAR. This conference took place in Brussels on 17 November last year and saw the international community pledge $2.28 billion (€2.06 billion) to support the CAR's national peace consolidation and recovery plan (see EUROPE 11670). The European Commission alone had pledged €409 million until 2020. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)