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2012
02
Knapen: No irregularities or factory farms with development grants
Knapen: No irregularities or factory farms with development grants
There have been no irregularities in the spending of development funds, nor have these funds been used to build factory farms. These are the conclusions of an investigation ordered by Ben Knapen, Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation, following allegations in the TV consumer programme Radar.
The suggestion made during the broadcast that development grants are being spent wrongly prompted Mr Knapen to order the investigation. ‘I wanted to know if there were any irregularities in projects that receive development grants. I’m happy to say that this is not the case.’
One of the ten projects mentioned in the broadcast received a grant from the Private Sector Investment Programme (PSI), which is aimed at stimulating economic development in countries that fulfil the official international criteria for development assistance. The project in question was launched in 2007 in Bosnia and Herzegovina by a Dutch company, which is working with 15 Bosnian farmers to establish a sustainable pig breeding and production unit there. The project has created 12 new jobs as well as 22 indirect jobs, and has brought agricultural expertise and technology to a country torn by civil war less than two decades ago.
PSI is the successor to the Emerging Markets Cooperation Programme (PSOM). It provides one-off funding to Dutch companies that want to start a joint venture in a developing country but cannot get the necessary capital from banks. Most of the projects are in Africa. According to an evaluation by the independent consultancy Triodos Facet, a typical PSI project generates 81 new, direct local jobs as well as some 1,300 indirect jobs among producers and suppliers.