US has no plans to change India aid model

Washington, Nov 10 (IANS) The US has no immediate plans to change its aid pattern to India following the British example even as it tries in general to move from aid to trade, according to a senior US official.

“We’re constantly, particularly in tough budget times, looking at ensuring that our assistance dollars are spent as well as we possibly can,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday when asked about British plans to halt all its aid to India from 2015.

“You know that we’ve been talking in general about trying to move, in as many countries as we can, from aid to trade, empowering individuals,” she said when asked if the US planned to follow the British example in regard to an emerging India.

“But most of our programmes are directed already along that vector, supporting all of the kinds of things that we do in India, including the strengthening and deepening of the nongovernmental sector, the health and human security issues,” Nuland said.

“But I don’t see – I don’t have any change in our India assistance to announce today, but obviously in every budget cycle, we look at all the priorities across the planet, and we have to make tough decisions in consultations with those governments in terms of what’s effective,” she added.

Foreign aid formed “less than 1 percent” of the US budget, Nuland said in response to a question.

IANS 2012-11-10 15:28:13