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EU provides €125 million funding for Afghanistan to support reforms
The European Commission on Thursday announced €125 million funding for Afghanistan to support the government’s reform agenda towards sustainable economic development and state building.
According to a statement released by the office of the European Union (EU) Special Representative in Afghanistan, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica has said, “Afghanistan is at a critical juncture for the success of its state-building process. Our programme is linked to the achievement of jointly-identified reform priorities. It will contribute to improving service delivery to citizens, better management of public finances, strengthened accountability and respect for human rights – in particular the rights of women and children”.
During the signing of the financing agreement for €125 million programme to safeguard and increase the Afghan government capacity for public service delivery linked to specific development reforms the Afghan Finance Minister, Eklil Hakimi has said,”The National Unity Government is committed to deliver on its ambitious reform agenda to expedite economic growth, strengthen good governance and create jobs so that especially the youth of our country can see a viable future for themselves. The EU’s incentive programme is an important building block for our efforts towards increased self-reliance through mutual accountability with our international partners”.
The statement added that this support is in line with EU’s current bilateral development programme for Afghanistan for the period 2014 – 2020 and the commitments given by the international community at the 2012 Tokyo Conference to provide the Afghan Government with more flexible funding linked with progress on specific achievements as enshrined in the ‘Self-Reliance through Mutual Accountability Framework (SMAF)’.
EU support to Afghanistan
Since 2002, the EU has been one of the major donors providing official development and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. Between 2002 and 2014, the EU has provided more than €3.3 billion in assistance to Afghanistan. The EU’s development programme for the time period 2014-2020 focuses on vital sectors for growth and social stability, such as rural development and agriculture, health, rule of law and strengthening democracy and accountability.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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