Germany commits P1.525B in aid to RP

The National Economic and Development Authority on Thursday said that German assistance to the Philippines for 2007-2008 will reach 24.6 million Euros, or about P1.525 billion. The assistance from Germany will primarily fund projects on sustainable economic development, environment, and health. In a statement, NEDA said that of this amount, 20 million Euros will be for technical and financial cooperation. Of this, 13 million Euros will be grants to the Technical Cooperation Program while 7 million Euros as loans will be for the Financial Cooperation Program. NEDA said these agreements were reached during the Philippine-German Bilateral Negotiations held recently in Bonn, Germany. Rolando G. Tungpalan, NEDA deputy director-general for investment programming and head of the Philippine delegation, said in a memorandum to NEDA director-general Romulo L. Neri that cooperation will be primarily in the areas of sustainable economic development, environment, and health. Tungpalan said Germany and the Philippines have agreed to intensify cooperation in Mindanao. He added that the thematic focus of the cooperation will be on poverty reduction, crisis prevention, and conflict transformation. - GMANews.TV