Belgium's aid to Africa
In the past years, Belgium is among the European countries playing an important role in the development of Africa, by granting emergency aid, in the form of cash and goods to some African countries.
Recently, the Belgium government announced its release of 500,000 Euros, for the purchase of 1,200 tonnes of food to be distributed by the World Food Programme(WFP) to the inhabitants of Kenya.
The government has also released 750,000 Euros to (WFP) to purchase 1300 tonnes of food for drought-affected victims in Ethiopia.
The Belgian Cooperation Ministry has announced that the food would be distributed as a priority to young children and mothers of those countries.
Since the beginning of last year, Belgium has granted food aid to the tune of 2.5 million Euros to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.
In another development, Belgium's Cooperation and Development Minister Charles Michel told a news briefing in Dakar Senegal that Public Development Aid(PDA) to Senegal in 2010 will amount to 55.5 million Euros.
Under the arrangement Belgium will be dedicating 0.7% of its Gross Domestic Products to the PDA, to become one of the nations in Europe. Other European countries affiliated to this pact, are Sweden, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg, with the highest level of financial aid to developing countries.
The Belgian minister explained that Senegal remains one of the 18 countries under where the PDA would be fully implemented within the New Cooperation Indicative Programme.
The program was signed in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, between Michel and the Senegalese Minister of State in charge of Economy and Finance, Abboulaye Diop.
Under the agreement, the program would be for a period of four years(from 2010 to 2013, instead of the previous three years.