Brussels, 25/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Commission adopted a five-year cooperation programme (2002-2006) with Bangladesh. This "strategy" document serves as a framework for relations with Bangladesh and covers all aspects of assistance to this country. Its main aim is to support the efforts made by the government to reduce poverty and to facilitate the country's integration in the global economy. It comes with an indicative allocation of EUR 560 million. The priorities fixed by the strategy document are as follows: (1) improving Bangladesh's human development indicators in sectors such as health, education, food security and employment creation; (2) strengthening cooperation in the field of trade and economic cooperation (promotion and diversification of exports; norms, standards and quality control issues; WTO matters and financial sector modernisation); (3) defence of democracy and human rights and continued commitment to support the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts peace process; and (4) building preparedness for natural disasters and emergency assistance.