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.