EU, Aga Khan sign agreement on aid cooperation
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
BRUSSELS, Belgium
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims around the world, signed an agreement with the European Union on Tuesday to increase cooperation between the EU and his aid organization.
The EU has given the €153 million (US$198 million) to the fund projects by the Aga Khan Development Network since 1986 to help with education, rural development, food security and other development projects.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the new agreement aimed to formalize the relationship, making it easy for the two organizations to work together in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
“The purpose of the declaration today is to try to set the framework in which our collaboration can grow,” Prince Karim Aga Khan IV told reporters.
The Aga Khan Development Network is one of the world’s largest private aid organizations and works to promote economic, social and cultural development in some of the world’s poorest nations.
Barroso and the Aga Khan said the two organizations would also work to improve understanding between Muslims and the West.
International Herald Tribune
Ismailimail 