France and Mauritania Thursday signed a funding agreement amounting to 17.4 million euros as part of the Debt Relief/Development
strategy (C2D), according to a statement by the French Embassy in Nouakchott, th e Mauritanian capital.
The agreement was signed by Mauritanian Economic Affairs and Development Ministe r, Sidi Ould Tah, and the French Ambassador in Nouakchott, Michel Vanpooter.
A framework agreement for implementing the “C2D” specifies the “terms and condit ions for the allocation and implementation of the related grant.”
In addition, Mauritania and France signed on the same occasion an agreement spec ifying the tripartite commitments between the Mauritanian State, the Central Ban k of Mauritania and the French Development Agency (AFD) on the operation of the a c count through which the funds are channelled.
The financial mechanism of the “C2D” promoted by France “is part of the debt can cellation measures decided by the international community for the benefit of the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries of which Mauritania has been among the first ben e ficiaries since mid-2002,” the statement said.
Yet, the French assistance to Mauritania goes beyond the reduction of debt by th e Paris Club under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative formali z ed by an agreement signed between the two countries on 26 May, 2003, which resul t ed in the cancellation of 36.8 million euros of debt, the source said.
The “C2D” signed Thursday is “an additional mechanism which cancels, gradually b ut totally, through a refunding mechanism by donating due receivables, the balan c e of receivables on public aid for development owed to France by Mauritania,” th e statement said.
