Palestine Pres. discusses ties with Belgian officials

BRUSSELS, Jan 22 (KUNA) -- Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo met in Brussels Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed the future of bilateral education cooperation.
A bilateral cooperation programme with a strong focus on education is currently running, said De Croo in a statement.
However, he noted, that this cooperation is being jeopardized by the question of the name of Palestinian schools.
Belgium halted several school projects it was funding in the West Bank after local authorities named one of the schools after 'Dalal Mughrabi,' a Palestinian whom Belgium accuses of being a terrorist.
The projects are worth a total USD 3.9 million.
De Croo and Abbas discussed how a solution could be found in the interest of the Palestinian schoolchildren as the Belgian minister expressed his confidence that if this were to be achieved the cooperation would resume.
"Belgium will not allow itself to be associated with the names of terrorists in any way," Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders had said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Belgian government pledged EUR 19 million (USD 23 million) over the next three years to UNRWA, the United Nations assistance agency for Palestinian refugees, in the wake of US aid cuts to the UN agency. (end) nk.sd