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European Union: European Union supports agriculture in São Tomé and Príncipe

2017/01/23

São Tomé and Príncipe and the European Union (EU) signed a cooperation agreement worth 6.7 million euros on Thursday in São Tomé to fund the development of agriculture in the archipelago, announced the European representative, Helmut Kulitz.

The document, which is valid for four years, was signed by the São Tomé minister of Foreign Affairs and Communities, Urbino Botelho and Helmut Kulitz, who said the funding allocated would be used to implement agricultural projects, particularly in cocoa, coffee and pepper plantations.

The delegate for the European Union in São Tomé and Príncipe said the fundingaims to increase the country’s exports in order to ensure a “sustainable economy for an agricultural product of high qualit,y” and preserve the environment and the country’s forests.

Part of the funds provided by the European Union is intended, according to Kulitz, to provide training to agricultural agents and workers.

Despite oil prospecting activities in the sea off ​​the archipelago, cocoa remains the basis of the economy of São Tomé and Príncipe, with a weight of additional than 90% of agricultural exports, followed by coconut, coffee, pepper and flowers.

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