UN gives more aid to ASEAN

UN gives more aid to ASEAN

MANILA (AP): The United Nations promised an additional US$6 million in aid to Southeast Asia yesterday to help alleviate poverty, create jobs and fight environmental pollution during the next three years.

A letter of intent was signed between the UN Development Program and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) just before the opening of the annual Asean Foreign ministers' meeting.

The UN Development Program has been giving aid to ASEAN since the group's formation in 1967.

The latest assistance is to be used "for promoting the ASEAN countries' economic recovery and tackling the social problems arising from the economic situation in the region," said the letter of intent signed by Rodolfo C. Severino Jr., the ASEAN secretary-general.

The regional group - which consists of Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- also committed to using the money to combat pollution, especially cross-border haze caused by forest fires in the region.