The European Commission and Afghan Minister of Finance, Omar Zakhilwal, will sign two financing agreements worth €185 million to support new programmes in health and agriculture on 28 of January.

The European Commission will allocate €185 million to support new programmes in health and agriculture in Afghanistan. In 2010, most asylum applicants in the EU in year 2010 came from Afghanistan. The health programme will provide basic health care and essential hospital services for 14 million people (almost half of the population) in 21 provinces. It will also support the Ministry of Public Health in ensuring the implementation of the national health strategy “Health for all Afghans.”

The agriculture programme, including water management, will focus on the rural areas in Afghanistan where about 80% of the population depends on agriculture and associated ways to make a living. The programme will support the Ministry of Agriculture in providing appropriate strategies in agriculture and implementation of the water resources management plan, fostering private sector development and addressing seasonal and chronic unemployment. It will also help to provide the rural population with alternative means of income to poppy cultivation, e.g. supporting crop production, producing and selling disease free trees or improving market conditions.

The European Union is one of the major donors to provide official development and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. In particular, the EU supports the Government of Afghanistan's efforts to provide basic services to its population in three focal areas - governance and rule of law, agriculture and rural development and health and social protection.