Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

In 2010, our total budget for cooperation amounted to €370,000. Much of this funding is devoted to cultural and linguistic cooperation via the French Institute in Myanmar (http://afrangoun.org) (400 students), and the French Centre in Mandalay (150 students). The French Institute’s initiatives, a privileged place for exchange and dialogue, also fall under the perspective of political change supported by close contact with civil society.

Since 2008, France also provides support for Burmese civil society through a specific support program for micro-projects (€70,000 annually). Finally, France has been involved for many years in medical cooperation, especially in training doctors (specialized in HIV/AIDS) and associating French and Burmese hospital structures (hospital partnerships). In the future, research partnerships (Pasteur Institute, Mérieux Foundation, IRD (Development Research Institute) could be developed.

In the wake of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, France did its utmost to help the victims. Emergency assistance of two million euros was implemented to finance the work of NGOs in the field, in addition to the EU’s initiatives. France has also supported several NGO projects related to food security in areas of the Irrawaddy delta hit by Cyclone Nargis, in the amount of €400,000 in 2008 and €486,000 in 2009. In 2010, bilateral food aid in the amount of €400,000 was granted to Myanmar which was supplemented by a contribution of €100,000 to address the effects of Hurricane Giri, which hit Myanmar on October 22nd, 2010.

For 2011, France’s financial support for food aid projects by French NGOs amounted to €800,000.

Updated on 06.06.11