"The European Union is proud to support this worthy program in its efforts to dispose of obsolete pesticides in Africa," said Francisco De Angelis, director at the European Commission's EuropeAid Cooperation Office. "Environment is one of the pillars of sustainable development and is a guiding principle of our development-cooperation policy. We hope that with this program, African countries will rid themselves of this deplorable threat."

World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Ian Johnson praised the program, saying, "The ASP is precisely the sort of local initiative with global impact the World Bank envisioned when we recently articulated the principles of our Environment Strategy, particularly by channeling funds to developing countries to help them meet the costs of global environment challenges."

An initial $48 million committed by the partnership will be used to prepare programs and to clean up six African countries - Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia - as well as prepare nine more countries for the pesticide sweep.

The EU is the first ASP partner to deliver on its pledge to help launch the program (World Bank release, Jan. 26).

Copyright, National Journal Group, 2004