Brussels, 03/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Training aid of 15 million EUR (10 million pounds) granted to the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, Essex, received the Commission's approval on Wednesday. It feels that the aid, which will be provided over the next three years through the London Development Agency and the Learning and Skills Council of East Sussex, is in line with rules of State aid to training. 2,000 people will be given access to training to help them acquire basic transferable skills and which will help the Dagenham unit, as a source of supply of diesel engines for the Ford group. According to the British authorities, 700 jobs will be safeguarded over the next ten or fifteen years. Stressing the coherence with the aid granted to Ford with Lisbon Strategy objectives in favour of investment in human capital, the Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, said in a press release that this was “precisely the kind of value-added aid which presents advantages for the sector, the region and society as a whole”.