2007.05.25 14:37

On May 24 2007, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rafał Wiśniewski presented the results of the call for proposals "Foreign Assistance 2007" of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, addressed to NGOs interested in cooperation with partner organizations in developing countries and those in transition. Minister Wiśniewski announced that in 2007 Polish NGOs would implement 110 assistance projects in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia worth a total of 25.5 million PLN. 261 project applications worth 62 million PLN were submitted in response to the call for proposals. Grants totaling 25,499,515.41 PLN were awarded to 110 projects. Most of them will benefit Ukraine (37), followed by Belarus (12), Moldova (12) and Georgia (10).

Minister Wiśniewski underlined that Polish society, faithful to the traditions of solidarity, was displaying growing support for Poland's assistance to other countries. Meanwhile, Polish organization involved in aid projects were steadily accumulating useful experience. This year , the MFA had allocated to NGO assistance projects almost a third of the 90 million PLN reserved for foreign assistance. Minister Wiśniewski pointed out that the assistance projects enhanced Poland's international image and position.

In 2006, the foreign assistance conveyed by the MFA amounted 85 million PLN, while the total Polish Official Development Assistance reached 921 million PLN, i.e. about .09% of the GDP. Over half of that sum was paid as our membership contribution into the assistance programme of the European Union, administered by the European Commission. Financial aid in the form of debt reduction and preferential credits was granted by the Ministry of Finance, while scholarship assistance was provided by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

A full list of projects selected for Polish foreign assistance subsidies in 2007 is available at:
http://www.polskapomoc.gov.pl/Wyniki,konkursu,522.html

Robert Szaniawski
MFA Press Spokesman

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