He was addressing the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the EC will provide Bangladesh with a development cooperation assistance of around US$ 270 million (205 million euros) in four years.

Of the total, 40 million euros have been allocated for boosting trade and economic development.

ERD Secretary Mohammed Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and Dr Frowein signed the MoU at the NEC conference room, on behalf of their respective sides, setting down the framework for Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) in this regard.

The EC has allocated the fund for the 2007-10 period with the overall objective of poverty alleviation in line with the Bangladesh Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

"The focal areas which we've chosen are critical to the fight against poverty," Dr Frowein said at the signing ceremony.

The focal areas of the assistance are human and social development encompassing health and education (70 million euros), and good governance and human rights (55 million euros).

Non-focal areas are environment and disaster management (20 million euros), and food security and nutrition (20 million euros).

"The European Commission will extend substantial development support to Bangladesh during the next four years as part of our commitment to poverty alleviation in this country," Dr Frowein said.