POVERTY: AUSTRALIA'S aid budget for Burma

August 7, 2010
AUSTRALIA'S aid budget for Burma will increase an unprecedented 67 per cent this financial year, to nearly $50 million.
Historically, Burma's political isolationism has meant it receives little international development aid - the least, in fact, of all the world's poorest countries.
"Half of Burma's almost 50 million people live in extreme poverty," the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, told Parliament this year.
"But at around $4 per head per annum, international aid to Burma is less than a 10th of that received by Cambodia and a 16th of that received by Laos."
Australia does not give money directly to the Burmese government. Instead, funds are invested through United Nations agencies or other non-government organisations already working in the country.
Australia's aid budget in Burma will focus on health, Mr Smith said, including training midwives and nurses, building ponds and wells for drinking water and funding treatment programs for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
And, for the first time this year, the federal government will offer 10 scholarships for Burmese postgraduates to study in Australia.
The US is wrestling with a new policy of engagement with Burma, but there has been no movement from the Obama administration towards lifting sanctions against the junta.
Australia will also continue its embargoes in defence and finance and travel restrictions on senior regime members.
"Until we see significant change from Burma's authorities, the Australian government will maintain a policy of targeted financial sanctions," Mr Smith said.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/aid-targets-25m-in-extreme-poverty-20100806-11oj9.html