European Union contributes around K650m for PNG from 2014-2020 : EU
“It focuses on three main areas: Rural economic development, human resources development and water supply and sanitation,” the Union said in a statement during the commemoration of 40 years of EU-PNG partnership on March 25.
European Union Ambassador H.E. Ioannis Giogkarakis-Argyropoulos said: “The European Union has provided scholarships to train some 900 primary school teachers, of which at least 50 percent are female, who will be ready to be deployed in remote areas. Thus, it will assist with the Government’s priority of education for all.
“Another example, a small plot holder of a cash crop such as cocoa, coffee and copra, will have since the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA), see a bigger return on the sale of the price of their produce to middlemen/suppliers/producers of products destined for the European Union markets as a result of concessions to export tax.
“But these are just very recent examples, 40 years of continuous cooperation have supported the water supply of hundreds of villages in rural areas, the rehabilitation and upgrading of hundreds of kilometres of roads, improving mobility and accessibility to markets, health centres and schools, and the primary, secondary and tertiary education of two generations of Papua New Guineans – to still; name but a few.”
Giogkarakis-Argyropoulos said over these years, our cooperation has evolved beyond development cooperation.
“And we share a more holistic approach by enlarging this partnership in areas like political cooperation, trade cooperation, economic cooperation and exchanges of people to people contact.
“Whatever events may bring in the future, one thing is certain; the EU will continue to put promoting international peace and security, development cooperation, human rights and responding to humanitarian crises at the heart of its foreign and security policies.”
On 25th March, the EU marked 60 years since the signature of the Rome Treaties, the first step towards a united Europe.
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