Minister Lehtomäki: Finland has not turned its back on Africa

Press release 250/2005
18 August, 2005

According to Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paula Lehtomäki, the public image of the Finnish development cooperation and the humanitarian assistance Finland is providing has been too one-sided at times.

"Finland is not blind and deaf to the suffering of Africa even this year. In spite of the substantial tsunami assistance, we can still focus almost as much money on humanitarian assistance in Africa as we did last year. This is possible by adjusting the allocation of funds within the development cooperation budget. This way we can respond to, for instance, the crisis in Niger, which so far we have donated to indirectly through the World Food Programme, WFP," Lehtomäki says.

Lehtomäki points out to the whole scene of development cooperation Finland is involved in, internationally, multilaterally, as well as within the European Union. The support Finland has given to WFP emergency programmes this year amounts to 6.4 million euros. In Niger the WFP provides hunger relief to approximately 2.65 million people. Finland has budgeted the total of 54 million euros for humanitarian assistance this year, which, at the moment, is about eleven percent of the whole development cooperation budget.

"As the development cooperation budget increases, also the allocations for humanitarian assistance increase each year. Unfortunately, the need for humanitarian assistance is always bigger than our resources for the purpose – the crises have become more severe and they can last several years," Lehtomäki describes.

"In the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, we are currently doing some changes within the development cooperation budget through which we can initially release additional 6 - 7 million euros for humanitarian assistance. This makes it possible for us to participate immediately in the relief of humanitarian crises in Africa," Lehtomäki says.

Additional information: Press Attaché Jari Haapiainen, tel. +358 9 160 55356, +358 40 756 4428.

Niger and international assistance (in Finnish)(Link to another website.)

Finnish humanitarian aid in 2005 (in Finnish)(Link to another website.)

Ministry for Foreign Affairs Development Cooperation(Link to another website.)