The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

A consignment of 26,000 metric tons of wheat as US food aid, worth approximately $17 million, has arrived at Chittagong seaport by a US-registered vessel.

The food-grain, carried into the port Monday by the vessel 'ITB Philadelphia', will be used for the United Nation's World

Food Program's (WFP) national school feeding program and to ensure food availability to the poorest of the poor living in the cyclone Sidr-affected areas, said a US Embassy release here Wednesday.

More than half of the wheat from this shipment (14,887 MT) will be used to assist Sidr-affected families through general food-distribution programs and Food for Work programs.

"These resources will ensure food availability for 1.5 million people affected by Cyclone Sidr in the twelve worst affected districts. The remaining wheat will be used to produce fortified high-energy biscuits that will be distributed to approximately 350,000 primary school students," it said.

This US government assistance, administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is part of the additional $40 million of food aid announced by US Ambassador Moriarty in May.

"This food aid to victims of cyclone Sidr is a direct response to the food-security assessment completed by the WFP," said the release.

In 2008, the US government will provide $176 million in development assistance to Bangladesh.

It has provided more than $5 billion in development assistance to Bangladesh since 1971, more than a half of which was in the form of food aid.

The US government's assistance to Bangladesh includes support for free, fair and credible elections and more transparent and accountable governance, assistance for a better educated, healthier and more productive population, funding to increase economic opportunities through equitable economic growth, food assistance, and support for disaster mitigation.