Turquoise-Green increases funding for projects in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine.
The federal government wants to give more support to humanitarian aid in crisis regions. Today, Wednesday, the Council of Ministers will decide to pay out 13.5 million euros from the Foreign Disaster Fund (AKF) to Austrian aid organizations for local aid. The money is intended to benefit projects in African countries, the Middle East and Ukraine. Overall, the government wants to increase the AKF to 60 million euros annually by 2024 – a four-fold increase compared to 2019, as Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler emphasized on Tuesday.
Specifically, in Africa two million euros each are to go to Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique, and one million to Burkina Faso – all four are priority countries for Austrian development cooperation. 2.5 million euros each are earmarked for Lebanon and Jordan, which continue to host hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. There are 1.5 million for aid in eastern Ukraine. The aim is also to increase the planning security for the aid organizations on site.
Fire accelerator corona crisis
“Covid-19 was a fire accelerator for international crises and conflicts,” said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. There were also major setbacks in the fight against hunger and poverty in 2020. “We run the risk of being set back years in the progress we have made.”
Representatives of several Austrian NGOs spoke of a “positive signal from the federal government”. Vienna plans to provide a total of 52.2 million euros through the AKF for disaster cases this year. A strategy for Austria’s humanitarian aid is in preparation. (raa)
–
