This is a no miss article for me to make. Last Jun was a disaster for Srbija. We all know but a few countries donated what they should have for Srbija. Instead, it went to Bosna i Hercegovina. Meanwhile, Japan decided to act for Srbija as well. Small or big, they are not just donating money but also for the damaged schools.
The contracts are worth EUR 166,418 in total.
The Japanese donation is dedicated to repairing and equipping pre-school institutions in Ub and Obrenovac, and a health-care center in that Belgrade municipality that was the worst affected by the floods that hit Serbia in May this year.
Japanese Ambassador in Belgrade Masafumi Kuroki noted that at the donor conference that was held in Brussels in July, the Japanese government pledged to give a donation of EUR 5 million for Serbia's flood recovery.
This donation of EUR 166,000 is the first part of the promised funds, Kuroki said, adding that Japan will continue to give support to schools, kindergartens, nursing homes.
Minister of Health Zlatibor Lončar and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Srđan Verbić thanked the embassy, government and people of Japan for having stood by Serbia, especially when the country was hit by the severe floods.
Since 1999, Japan has given over EUR 10 million in aid to Serbia through 169 projects for meeting the basic needs of the population - 70 in the field of education, 66 in the health-care sector and 33 in other fields, while the total aid in that period exceeded EUR 460 million.
That is more than what EU and America can do. Both physically and emotionally. That is what Japan does best, their people and not their politicians.
Japan gives without (negative) strings attached. I think in regards to donating some buses to Serbia, they only required that the buses be kept in decent condition (that's a positive string).
ReplyDeleteThere's news that with the EU aid (which is mostly loans) there is the requirement that Serbia purchase equipment/goods from those countries. That would be simply the EU using Serbia's calamity to increase business. Serbia would be buying things (as it has to pay back the money) and probably at a more expensive cost than elsewhere. I believe the Serbian government is hesitant or resisting most of this aid, which is good, but it is still left needy.