BRATISLAVA, November 19, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia gives little money to countries crippled by natural and environmental disasters. Humanitarian aid provided last year amounted to 1.89 million euros but most of it was material assistance, according to an assessment report penned by the Slovak Non-governmental Development Organizations Platform, which clusters thirty-one NGOs in Slovakia specialized in foreign development and humanitarian aid.
The Interior Ministry sent material assistance totaling 1.64 million euros to Afghanistan, Albania, Montenegro, Chile, Haiti, Pakistan, Palestine, Saint Lucia and Ukraine last year. Financial aid under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Ministry took the form of ten projects implemented in Haiti, Pakistan, Moldova and Hungary. The four countries were hit by natural disasters and Slovakia helped them with 255,000 euros. The report stipulates that financial assistance is more effective because it saves on transportation costs. Purchases can be made in the respective locality and, thus, boosts the given economy. Nonetheless, compared to the total volume of provided aid, the portion of financial aid is low. Last year, the Foreign Ministry provided 25,000 euros per project on average. This is just a symbolic presence of Slovak entities in affected countries, according to NGOs.
SITA
