Team Europe is mobilising over € 334 million or nearly Tk 31 billion for helping fight against COVID-19 and its consequences in Bangladesh.
Keeping the adversity of COVID-19 pandemic in view, a global EU response of 20 billion euro has been launched under the banner of the Team Europe or "#TeamEurope to help mitigate the spread of the virus and to reduce spillover effects on economic and social stability in partner countries, it said.
In its ongoing development cooperation programmes in Bangladesh, the EU is already addressing many areas crucial in the COVID-response and the recovery of the economy, which include food security, private sector development and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene).
On top of that, the EU is pleased to announce that 334 million euro have been allocated to help fight the pandemic and that more funds may be mobilised in the near future, in particular, 263 million euro to mitigate the economic and social impact of COVID-19.
Of this, a grant of 93 million euro along with 20 million euro worth of German grant will help the government to provide cash assistance to workers in the export-oriented industries adversely affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic, and contribute to boost the resilience of the national social protection system, said the press release.
In addition, the French Development Agency - Agence Française de Développement - (AFD) will support Bangladesh government with 150 million euro to improve the country's social protection measures.
A sum of 64.8 million euro -- 16.5 million euro from the EU plus 48.3 million euro from Germany-- will be used to scale up interventions through the United Nations (UN) and NGO partners for vulnerable Bangladeshi host communities and Rohingya in Cox's Bazar, according to the press release.
At the global level, the Team Europe has joined forces with other multilateral partners and IFIs (Word Bank, IMF, ADB) by contributing 22 per cent of the US$ 88 billion global response against COVID-19, it mentioned.
Bangladesh will also benefit from the funds that the EU and its member states have made available to its multilateral partners to tackle the pandemic, according to the press release.
"COVID-19 knows no borders and hits the most vulnerable hardest. Team Europe's support of some EUR 334 million will assist the government of Bangladesh in providing support to those who are most affected by COVID-19, in terms of health and livelihoods," it said, quoting the Ambassador of the EU Rensje Teerink.
"#TeamEurope trusts that all Bangladeshis, and in particular millions of the most affected people, will benefit from these interventions. #TeamEurope is the tangible expression of the exceptional European efforts to lead the fight against COVID-19 and to express our global solidarity," the envoy was also quoted as saying.
#TeamEurope's response is about combining the collective development resources of the EU, its member states and their respective financial institutions and implementing agencies, in particular the European Investment Bank, as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, it added.
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