Panama, Spain sign agreement to reduce poverty

(english.people.com.cn ) Panama and Spain signed the "Program of the Enterprise Opportunities for Poor Families" on Wednesday to reduce the poverty rates in Panama's rural zones.

According to the program, a fund of 8 million U.S. dollars will be given to Panama by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), under the mediation of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Rosa Beltran, a coordinator from AECID, said the resources for this program are part of a fund that Spain gives to the UNDP to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"With this social initiative, we want to reach the less favored social sectors in the rural and indigenous zones, for them to have more ease to access development," Beltran explained.

Meanwhile, Panamanian Economy and Finance Minister Alberto Vallarino said this program will be applied in the provinces of Cocle, Herrera, Veraguas and Chiriqui, where 40 percent of the inhabitants live in poverty.

"Good times are coming; the government is getting ready for a strategy of national development for the coming five years, which foresees important investments to boost the agriculture sector in these provinces," Vallarino announced.

Panama is one of the Latin American countries with the largest imbalances in income, education and health, despite an average GDP increase of 8 percent in the last three years.

Source: Xinhua

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Original Source: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6817591.html
Date Retrieved: November 19, 2009