March 28 2006, Kabul Afghanistan: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), in yet another expression of the commitment of the Government of Canada to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, has signed five agreements with the UNDP over the last seven days committing a total of CAD$ 15.4 million (approx US$ 13.5 million) to support five projects currently being implemented by the UN’s development agency.

The projects and the funds contributed by CIDA for their implementation in the course of 2006 and beyond are as follows:

DIAG: Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups, a project aimed at collecting the armaments still controlled by former field commanders and former Mujahideen formations and transferring these weapons to Afghan government for use by Afghan military and police (contribution CAD$ 4 million).

DIAG - Ammunition: A similar programme aimed at collecting the ammunition and ordnance from former military and Mujahideen formations and their destruction (contribution CAD$ 4 million).

SEAL: Support to Establishment of Afghan Legislature project, designed to support the newly created Afghan National Assembly through capacity building for both the elected members and the staff of the Assembly (contribution CAD$ 1.2 million).

NABDP: National Area Based Development Programme- Phase II, Integrated Alternative Livelihoods Programme in Kandahar, a project aimed at empowering local population to adopt legitimate ways of earning livelihoods (contribution CAD$ 5 million). This is in addition to CIDA’s un-earmarked CAD$ 6 million contribution earlier this year to NABDP as whole.

CNTF: Counter Narcotics Trust Fund, a wide ranging programme implemented jointly with the Afghan government to support endeavors to stem the cultivation and trade of poppy and drugs (contribution CAD$ 1.2 million).

Canadian International Development Agency has contributed a total of US$ 81,640,958 to UNDP programmes and projects since 2002. Other projects supported by CIDA in this period are “Building Sustainable Capacities on Human rights Treaty Reporting” and “Making Budgets Work - Aid Management & Coordination”.