http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/05/front.html#21
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Monday, May 5, 2008
US donates $40m food aid, $30m for feeding schoolchildren
Staff Correspondent
The United States will provide Bangladesh $40 million in food aid for
supporting a schoolchildren-feeding programme for the next three years
and partly for distribution to the Sidr-affected people.
The US ambassador in Dhaka, James F Moriarty, made the announcement
on Sunday, reiterating that Washington has emphasised the importance
of democracy, development and denial of space to terrorists for the
sake of amicable bilateral relations.
A $30 million component of the assistance is meant to benefit
approximately 3,50,000 schoolchildren throughout the country by doling
out a 75-gram packet of fortified biscuits for each student daily =97
one of the programmes aimed at attaining universal primary education.
=91We are providing a means and an incentive for children to stay in
school so that Bangladesh can prepare the next generation of leaders,=92
the ambassador told journalists in a written statement at the American
Club.
He did not mention whether Washington would help Bangladesh in
overcoming the globally soaring prices of food-grains by import or by
helping it to attain self-sufficiency in food, but the mission
director of the US Agency for International Development, Denise
Rollins, said that the US has no assistance programme on budget
supports for offsetting the price-hikes of food items.
When he was asked if the $40 million food aid was part of President
George W Bush=92s announced $700 million assistance, Rollins replied
that it was a component of a humanitarian assistance programme worth
$2.1 billion.
She acknowledged that the food price-hike was a cause of concern in
Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world, but ducked a question on making
bio-fuel by what US newspaper Washington Post termed =91Siphon off Corn
to Fuel our Cars=92.
However, the $10 million new emergency food aid in the $40 million
assistance package will benefit those who are still struggling to
recover from the devastating effects of cyclone Sidr, said Moriarty,
adding that this donation would be used for direct food distribution,
rehabilitation work through food-for-work and cash-for-work
programmes, emergency school feeding, and feeding pregnant and
lactating mothers and infants.
In all, the US government has pledged $110 million in food aid
since October 2007. Washington provided $20 million immediately after
the cyclone on November 15, 2007.
The US government is also funding the $48 million programme on
sustainable development. In the past week, the US gave $2 million to
the World Food Programme to feed primary schoolchildren in Sidr-
stricken areas and another assistance programme worth $1,00,000 as an
emergency response to alleviate the sufferings of the starving people
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Referring to his meeting with the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed,
on the day, Moriarty said that Washington has remained =91committed to
assisting the government of Bangladesh and its people=92.
=91We were here before the cyclone, we were here during the initial
emergency relief phase, and we are here to help Bangladesh move
forward.=92
The United States has provided Bangladesh over $5 billion in
development assistance, including food aid of $2.5 billion, since its
independence in 1971, said the ambassador.
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