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UN, Russia deliver food aid to rural school students in Tajikistan

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) delivered 180 tonnes of vegetable oil to the country, while 123 more tonnes will be received in Tajikistan before the end of 2020

DUSHANBE, December 15. /TASS/. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has sent a food shipment to Tajikistan as part of the school meal project financed by Russia. The ceremony of official delivery of 180 tonnes of vegetable oil attended by WFP representatives, the Russian embassy to Tajikistan and the Tajik education ministry took place on Tuesday, the Russian diplomatic mission told TASS.

According to the embassy, the WFP delivered 180 tonnes of vegetable oil to the country, while 123 more tonnes will be received in Tajikistan before the end of 2020. "This humanitarian shipment was financed by Russia, as Moscow allocated $5 million to boost Tajikistan’s food security in 2020 in accordance with the memorandum of understanding between the WFP and the Russian Emergency Ministry," the press service reported. The diplomatic mission underlined that this food shipment is part of the WFP school feeding programme which covers more than 500,000 schoolchildren in grades 1 to 4 of 2,000 schools working in 52 rural districts of Tajikistan. Earlier, the country already received 3,000 tonnes of vitaminized flour as part of the programme.

Russia’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov spoke at the ceremony to laud this delivery as an example of friendly and partner-like relations which emerged between Russia and Tajikistan in many years of cooperation. According to him, Russia is the biggest donor in implementing projects of international organizations and specialized UN agencies in Tajikistan, which cover issues of food security, education, business, situation with women and many others. "Deliveries continue, we expect that more than 300 tonnes of vegetable sunflower oil will be supplied to the country in total before the end of the year," the diplomat clarified. The envoy added that Russia had sent $82.5 million between 2005 and 2020 through the WFP to support those who need food in Tajikistan.

The WFP school feeding programme is the largest WFP project in Tajikistan which envisions supplies of food to Tajik schools and facilitates technical modernization of the school meal system, particularly envisioning construction and renovation of school canteens, bakeries and greenhouses. Since 2012, Russia allocated more than $28 million to these ends.