MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Russia has provided aid worth $6.7 bln to Central Asian countries over the past 10 years, including $4 bln worth of aid provided without consideration, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn (International Life) magazine.

"Over ten years Russia has provided assistance worth $6.7 bln to Central Asian countries. Non-repayable financial aid on a bilateral basis exceeded $4 bln, over $570 mln were granted through the United Nations, more than $1.3 bln through the World Bank and other structures, over $592.3 mln through the Eurasian Economic Union (part of Russia’s contribution to the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development)," he said.

Lavrov also mentioned a notable progress in Russia’s efforts to provide assistance to global development through the United Nations within the CIS area, mainly in Central Asia.

"It was decided to finance more than ten big projects," he said, adding that Moscow’s efforts are focused on "poverty reduction, medical area, education, ecology, food safety," as well as "the creation and upgrade of infrastructure, fortification of national potential in tackling terrorism and organized outlawry, the improvement of state management system."

Russia keeps taking part in global actions to provide humanitarian aid to necessitous nations in Central Asia, the minister added. According to Lavrov, the amount of funds provided by Russia to the UN global food program for the needs of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2013-2016 totaled $65 mln.