European Commission pledges USD 100 million for education sector

The European Commission (EC) has pledged an aid package of USD 100 million for development of the education sector - to be implemented over the period of six years.

The EC and the Government of Nepal Thursday signed a Financing Agreement in order implement the "Education Sector Policy Support Programme" with an initial amount of 25 million Euro (around USD 38 million) for the period 2008-2010.

This amount is the first tranche of the total 72 million Euro that the Commission will provide to Nepal in the next years, an EC statement said.

"In order to support the Government of Nepal development objectives and in line with the EC-Nepal Framework Cooperation Agreement, the Country Strategy Paper 2007-2013 has placed, as the first priority, the assistance to Nepal in the education sector by creating an enabling environment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," the statement said, adding that the education sector is expected to receive more than 100 millions US Dollars until 2013. nepalnews.com mk June 05 08