By IANS,
Madrid : Spain has allocated about 40 percent of its total development aid worldwide to the Latin American countries, amounting to some $2.48 billion, EFE new agency reported Thursday.
Leire Pajin, Spain’s secretary of state for international cooperation, made the announcement in parliament Wednesday while laying down the country’s aid strategy for the next four years.
Pajin noted that the proposed aid package for Latin America jumped from 600 million euros ($933 million) in 2004, to the higher side of 1.6 billion euros (around $2.48 billion).
She also emphasized that some 15 percent of the aid would go to the programmes under way for promoting gender equality and supporting the dignity of women, and their contribution to development.
She also said that the Spanish government was committed to increasing aid to the less-developed countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Emphasizing the importance of the relation between migration and development, Pajin said that support for the migrants’ own countries and transit countries was indispensable.
“We have to put into practice public immigration policies for the adequate and coordinated management of migration flows between all the involved countries,” she emphasized.