Italy Signs 46M Euros Dev’t Agreement with Ethiopia

The Italian and Ethiopian governments have signed an agreement on development cooperation in education, health, rural development, as well as water and sanitation.

The agreement was signed by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s state Minister of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) and Ellsabetta Belloni, director of Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, April 21, 2009.

The signing of the agreement sets a new cooperation framework between the two countries for three years, between 2009 and 2011. Under this bilateral agreement, Italy will provide Ethiopia with 46 million Euros (over 60.9 million dollars), for the development of the four sectors within the agreement period.

Out of this, almost 16 million Euros (21.2 million dollars) has already been allocated to the General Education Quality Improvement Programme (GEQIP), channelled as part of the 50 million dollars through the dedicated pooled fund managed by the World Bank.

Around 16 million students in primary and secondary schools, as well as 225,000 teachers all over the country, are expected to benefit from the GEQIP.

Italy will provide two more million Euros in 2011 to complement the promotion of education in the country, following specific project appraisal. Italy has allocated more than eight million Euros in favour of the health component of the programme, Protection of Basic Services-Phase II, and will contribute a further 8.2 million Euros to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Fund and to the implementation of the Ethiopian Health Management Information System.

Italy has started a rural development project in the Oromia Regional State – mainly in Arsi and Bale areas.

The continuation of the project has been ensured in the new framework of development as 3.5 million Euros has been allocated for the programme, whose appraisal will be finalized in 2009.

Five million Euros (6.6 million dollars) has also been allocated as a contribution to the National WASH Programme.

Source:Addis Fortune

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