USAID Poured Millions in Bulgaria and Romania

Standart daily /Standart newspaper
December 17, 2007

As Bulgaria and Romania acceded to the EU, the American USAID finished
its 17-year-long activity in the two countries. During these years USAID
invested US$ 600 million into each country for the establishment of
NGOs, market liberalization, etc. USAID allotted over US $ 100 million
in loans to small business in Romania that generated over 100 000 jobs.
Romanian representatives would often mention the agency's programmes in
Bulgaria, always in a positive tone. "Bulgaria has very good family
planning programmes, perhaps the best on the Balkans," said Dr Merce
Gasco from the Romanian Family Planning Institute.
USAID will pursue its activities via the Black Sea Trust (BST) for
regional development, the main seat of which is in Bucharest. This is
the latest initiative of the German Marshal Fund. With a budget of US$ 3
million a year the trust will keep on providing assistance at local
level implementing non-governmental projects. The accent has shifted
towards the countries from the Black Sea region that now, apart from
Bulgaria and Romania, include also Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Turkey.