#219: EU grants Haiti millions for development (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

EU grants Haiti millions for development 
 06:05 p.m Jul 21, 1999 Eastern 
PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 21 (Reuters) - The European Union  has signed two
agreements under which it will finance  development in Haiti for $28.6
million (27 million euros),  Haitian government officials said on
Wednesday.  The first accord, for $4.4 million (4.2 million euros), is
to support public education programmes, a government statement      
said. The second accord, for $24.2 million (23 million euros), is for
rural development and agricultural production in three of Haiti's
nine departments -- the South, the Centre and the department of Grande
Anse.  Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, has an average
 annual per capita income of $250, and an illiteracy rate nearly        
60 percent.  Hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid to the
Caribbean nation has been stalled because of more than two         years
of political turmoil.