Germany and Lesotho sign 6.5 million Euro financial cooperation agreement

On December 1, 2010, Chargé d'Affaires of the German Embassy to South Africa, Ingo Herbert, and High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Lesotho to South Africa, Mrs. Matlotliso Lineo Ntoane, signed a government agreement for a financial contribution to an infrastructure improvement programme for local government worth 6.5 million Euro.

Enlarge image High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Mrs. Matlotliso Lineo Ntoane and Chargé d' Affaires of the German Embassy Ingo Herbert (© GIC Pretoria) “The assistance will be used to take forward the programme of building community council centres, which began with the three Southern districts of Mafetengm Mohale's Hoek and Qacha's Neck. The centres will provide facilities for council offices, farmers, youth development, women and serve as centres for advancement of the communities at local level,” Mrs Ntoane said.

“The German government is pleased to contribute to democratisation and decentralisation in the Kingdom of Lesotho. We hope to contribute also through sharing our experiences with the successful federal state system in Germany,”  Ingo Herbert noted.

The on-going support through German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), KFW, the German Development Service (DED) and the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) has gone a long way in promoting participatory economic planning and institutional and human resource capacity-building for local government councils,” Ntoane added.

She underlined that “the agreement will not only contribute towards embedding democracy, but also improve the standards of living of the people of Lesotho.”

The agreement will be implemented by the German Development Bank (KFW).