Brussels, 08/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission adopted a strategy document setting out a financial assistance programme to the Philippines. It indicated that a sum of EUR 51 million had been earmarked for the country. The document had been prepared in consultation with the Government of the Philippines and EU Member States. The overarching objective of EU/Philippines co-operation will be to support sustainable economic, social and environmental development. Two main priorities have been set: 1) Assistance to the poorest sectors of society: consolidating the work already done on rural development, spreading know-how gained in earlier projects; helping to improve basic social services such as health; 2) Assistance to trade and investment: facilitating the integration of the Philippines into the global economy, through support for trade sector policy formulation and institutional reform, strengthening key government institutions involved in trade, investment and finance, as well as co-operation in higher education.
Other fields for co-operation include human rights, stability and security. Emphasis will also be placed on education, culture, science/technology as tools to enhance partnership and facilitate the visibility of the EU in the Philippines and vie-versa. The strategy takes into account the need to strengthen co-ordination between donors, particularly EU Member States, in order to guarantee coherency. The strategy also aims at promoting synergy between the whole range of EC programmes available to the Philippines, including the HIV AIDS and NGO co-financing programmes.