BRUSSELS, May 26. /TASS/. The European Union plans to at least partially replace the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in third world countries, top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said upon arrival at the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs (Development) Council.
"We are going to discuss the impacts of USAID’s withdrawal from the development aid and where we can come in," she pointed out.
"We can’t fill the void that the US is leaving behind totally but we are focusing on the priorities that we have, and we will discuss this. If course, it will be our neighborhood, it will also be democracy and media freedom; and it will be priorities like human rights," Kallas added.
On February 3, the US administration actually halted the activities of USAID, which used to allocate major funds to finance international organizations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was appointed the agency’s temporary chief, announced on March 10 that the government had cut 83% of USAID programs. Instead, the US Department of State plans to establish a $2.9-billion America First Opportunity Fund (A1OF), which, in Rubio’s words, will promptly respond to crises, maintain active communication with important partners such as India and Jordan, support the necessary repatriation efforts and counter strategic threats from the closest rivals such as China.