Cyprus – Ireland to cooperate on development assistance

Cyprus and Ireland have agreed to promote cooperation on issues concerning overseas development assistance, an official press release said, adding that the agreement was the result of contacts a Cypriot delegation chaired by Cyprus Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Sotos Zackheos held in Dublin between January 20 and February 1.

Cooperation will concentrate on training in Ireland of Cypriot officers who are dealing with development assistance.

The training will cover a wide range of issues and will be based on Ireland’s long-term experience as well as the international trends in the field of development assistance.

The two countries will cooperate on planning and implementing a development project in Lesotho, one of five countries which Cyprus included in its Medium-Term Strategy for Development Assistance.

Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in Africa with half the population living below the poverty line, the statement said.

Dublin and Nicosia will also examine the possibility of co-funding and co-organising in Cyprus training programmes addressed to the Palestinians, African citizens and small island states.

Ireland has an effective system of granting assistance and implementing programmes, the cost of which rose to EUR 489 mln in 2004.