After a decade of receiving foreign aid, Poland has pledged to devote some 230 million US dollar (1,38 milliarder DKR) to development assistance by 2006, with most of it going to help poor African and Asian countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said Friday.
The amount is equal to 0,1 per cent of Polands gross domestic product (GDP) and would be an increase from the mere 27 million US dollar contributed last year.
Polands role as an emerging donor country was spotlighted Friday in Warsaw as UNDP and the Government presented a joint campaign to promote the MDGs, a set of eight time-bound targets that seek to restructure the worlds social fabric, from slashing extreme poverty and hunger to curbing infant mortality and major diseases to improving access to education and health care for all – all by 2015.
The effort seeks to raise awareness of the countrys responsibility as a participant in global development cooperation, as Poland joins countries like Brazil and India, which also had been major recipients of development assistance in the past but are now emerging as donors of international aid.
A new public opinion poll shows that 63 per cent of Poles favour contributing aid to developing nations, UNDP said.
– Based on experiences from transformation, new European Union members have particular tasks and capabilities in development cooperation, said Ben Slay, Director of UNDPs Regional Office in Bratislava, Slovakia.
– This potential is yet to be resolved. National experts, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations have unique experiences which could be shared not only with the former Soviet states and Eastern European countries, but also with developing nations from other parts of the world, added he.
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
