Addis Ababa, 02 April 2002 (ECA) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and The Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, Mrs Eveline Herfkens, today entered into an agreement which provides for support to ECA of US$ 1,829,478 for the coming three years.

The agreement was signed at the ECA headquarters here by Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of ECA and by Mr. Rob Vermaas, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Ethiopia.

The new Netherlands Government grant comes in the form of fully unearmarked support to the annual extra budgetary programme of ECA. It is intended to support the ECA activities on strengthening the Inter-Agency Group on Water in Africa for implementing the African Water Vision 2025, which form part of this extra budgetary programme.

This new contribution is an addition to the unearmarked contribution of us$ 6 million for three years, for which an agreement was signed in August last year.

In general, by supporting and strengthening the ECA, the Netherlands hopes to:

- Strengthen the African voice in international fora: ECA is one of the main players in fostering African debate on development issues, as exemplified by the Commission's role in the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

- Stimulate discussion on development issues and peer review learning amongst African countries:

Discussions on the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper , required for HIPC-funding) process between various like-minded African countries, the African Learning Group on the PRSPs being an example of this.

- Support processes of regional integration: The third African Development Forum (ADF III) was held from 3 - 8 March this year, on the theme 'Defining Priorities for Regional Integration'. ADF III provided for frank and open discussions on issues related to this theme. Furthermore, findings from the first 'Annual Report on Integration in Africa' provided an overview of where Africa stands with respect to integration.

(END)