Netherlands grants $2m for elections

JAKARTA: The Netherlands will provide Indonesia with a US$2 million grant to help it prepare for the 2004 elections, the Netherlands Embassy in Indonesia said.

The embassy said in a statement on Wednesday an agreement on the assistance would be signed on Thursday by the Netherlands Ambassador to Indonesia Ruud Treffers, the acting Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Gwi-Yeop Son and Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.

The grant, which will be administered through a UNDP trust fund, will be used to assist government institutions and civil society organizations here to make next year's elections a success, the embassy said.

The direct beneficiaries of the grants will be the General Elections Commission and other relevant institutions, as well as civil society organizations involved in voter education. --JP