Australia, UNDP provide $3M to Cambodia for Covid response

The Australian government on May 7 signed an agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to contribute an additional A$4 million (US$3.15 million) to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on Cambodia’s economy and people, the UNDP said in a press release.

The agreement took effect immediately, the UNDP said, adding that the A$4 million will fund further work to strengthen social assistance, support local businesses to adapt to pandemic-related difficulties, and other priorities identified through consultation with the Royal Government of Cambodia and civil society.

The contribution will top up the Australia-UNDP ‘Resilience Fund’ – an existing flexible mechanism that provides targeted support to Cambodia’s socio-economic response to Covid-19, the UNDP said.

UNDP resident representative Nick Beresford lauded Australia as a “stand-out leader in fast and effective development assistance”, proving itself through what he described as “smart adaptive programming [that is] flexible to specific circumstances”.

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Thou Vireak