The European Union (EU) yesterday signed five financial agreements amounting to $ 97,9 million for the 11th European Development Fund 2014- 2020 National Indicative Programme ( NIP) for improving health, Agriculture and Institution building in Zimbabwe.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the programmes are aimed at protecting the population against the most health threats, in particular those at the root of maternal and child mortality, strengthening national policy health systems and supporting the necessary reforms on health financing and governance.
Chinamasa said the intervention by the European Union in the three identified focal areas dovetails into national development thrust as enunciated in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET) as well as The Ten Point announced by President Mugabe last week
‘’ The signing ceremony of the 11th EDF in February 2015, indicated that we need a healthy population, food sufficiency and security in order to realize our national development goals.
‘’The Financing Agreements that will pave way for the implementation of the 2015 Annual Action Plans under the framework of the National Indicative Programme( NIP) will go a long way in accelerating economic development of Zimbabwe’’, Chinamasa explained.
Chinamasa said the Resilience Building and food Nutrition Security Programme will allocate funding targeted at enhancing food security capacitating farmers.
Chinamasa highlighted that signing of these Financial Agreements confirms the continuing and normalization of the relations in terms of development cooperation between EU and Zimbabwe.
Head of the EU delegation to Zimbabwe Philippe Van Damme said the programmes signed are the direct result of renewed partnerships and should lead to more efficient and effective use of development funding and addressing the reform agenda of the government.
Damme said the Subsequent National Indicative Programme for the eleventh European Development Fund covering the period until 2020.
‘’ We are agreed that we would try to commit more than half of the programme this year, helping the government to start its reform agenda, stopping economic and social decline and giving hope to the people of Zimbabwe.
‘’ EU is committed and we offered a total support of $ 259,74 Million for urgent needs, and this fund targets areas which are important to us, which include Agriculture- based economic development, Health and Governance and Institution Building’’, said Damme.
Head of delegation said the country has an extraordinary Diaspora of qualified people who could do more to contribute to turn around the economy if the right incentives and guarantees were put in place.
Meanwhile the strategy for Lima rightly puts a lot of emphasis on improving public finance management and accelerating public enterprise reforms.
‘’We earmarked EUR 10 million under the ZIMREF, rehabilitation fund which shall be managed by the World Bank, and 3 million has been set aside for the Government to design migration polices with the support of the international for Migration, which will be more conducive towards economic development while enhancing the rights of the migrants’’, said Damme.
