World Food Programme                                  　　　　　　　　　　           JAPAN

Bangladesh

News Release                                               　　　　　　　　　　  July 14, 2009

Japan gives US $9.1 million for vulnerable people

     Dhaka: The United Nations World Food Prgoramme (WFP) today welcomed a US $9.1 million contribution from the Government of Japan to provide food assistance to the ultra-poor living in areas to floods, riverbank erosion, coastal cyclones and tidal surges.

                  WFP will use the Japanese funds to distribute some 26, 928 metric tons of    wheat to 300,000 extreme poor people in the disaster prone highly flood insecure areas including chars/haor basin around three major rivers Jamuna, Padma and Brahmaputra. This Japanese assistance helps WFP to implement its Enhance Resilience (ER) programme which aims at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable households to disasters.

                   Mr. Yonezo Fukuda, Charge d’ Affaires, Embassy of Japan to Bangladesh observed, “This Japanese grant re-confirms our continued support to the Government and the people of Bangladesh. We pledged continuous support to extend our assistance to help people attain better food security and a more sustainable livelihood.”

                  WFP Representative in Bangladesh John Aylieff terming the Japan an unfailing partnership for WFP and Bangladesh said “This Japanese assistance is targeted to the most vulnerable households in disaster prone areas. The grant will enable extremely poor communities to enhance their resilience to shocks by creating human and physical assets and improving life skills and income earning capacity”.  

                  Japan recently extended a total of US $43.3 million (4190 million Japanese Yen) in grant aid to 8 countries in Africa and Asia as a relief measure against soaring food prices. Countries are Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Palestine, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad and Lesotho.

                  Japan has been one of the major donors of food aid to Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. So far this year, contributions from Japan to WFP have reached US $179 million, making Japan WFP’s second largest donor. In 2008 Japan contributed over US $8.2 million to WFP in Bangladesh.