About 570 million Euros (606 million U.S. dollars) has been spent to subsidize African cotton sector over the last ten years, Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and African integration on Tuesday said in a press conference in Cotonou. 
According to Nassirou Arifari Bako, the European Union and its member state provided 70 percent of the funding.
The mobilized funds have been directed to support regional strategies textile-cotton-clothing, essentially in the West African economic and monetary union (WAEMU), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the official said.
He added that the funding also supported the dissemination of good farming practices through integrated management of production, African cotton quality improvement and promotion as well as to its local transformation.
Minister Nassirou Arifari Bako held the press conference ahead of the 20th session of the European Union and Africa partnership Steering and Follow up Committee on cotton to take place on Wednesday in Cotonou.
The session, to gather 200 delegates, will examine the progress made in the implementation of ACP-EU action program for cotton development in Africa.
It is said to be an opportunity for in-depth reflection on challenges and outlooks about African cotton sector, a decade after the establishment of the partnership.
According to the minister, the European Union and Africa partnership on cotton was established in July 2004 and was designed to bring solution to major challenges facing African cotton sector. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
