Sugar Industry allocated EU grant

The Sugar Industry has been allocated a grant of around FJD$46.8 million by the European Union.

EU Ambassador Andrew Jacobs said these funds will be spent according to plans that were previously designed in the sugar sector.

Jacobs said overall, the EU has some FJD$150 million in ongoing projects in the sugar sector, including support to NGOs, and also to scientific research on sugar.

Jacobs said they expect to build on the successes of previous interventions in the sugar sector and to extend the cooperation until 2020.

He added future intervention with the Ministry of Agriculture is being discussed with the authorities and shall be known in more detail by June this year.

He said this is the two pronged approach of the EU in Fiji for the period 2015-2020.

Coupled with some support to the governance sector, the EU bilateral allocation for the period should amount to some FJD$66.03 million.