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Gaza Strip destruction

 Funds will come from cutbacks in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Relations

On Tuesday (9), the Committee on Finances and Taxation approved the Bill 4760/09, from the Executive, which authorizes the Brazilian government to donate up to R$25,000,000 to the National Palestine Authority for the reconstruction of Gaza Strip. According to its rapporteur, Deputy Pepe Vargas (PT-RS), that measure will not represent any increase in government’s expenses, since those funds will come from cutbacks in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

Pepe Vargas stresses that those savings will come from the “partial void”, of budgeting allotments, aiming at the construction of the Annex III of that Ministry. The congressman also clarifies that, because it is an action which is restricted to the current term, that donation does not need to be discriminated in the Multiyear Plan (PPA).

Regarding its merit, the rapporteur affirms that, although the amount is irrelevant from the budgeting standpoint, it has an important political and diplomatic meaning. According to him, that measure will “give sequence to the cooperation Brazil has been developing with that region”.

In fact, in 2007, Brazil donated US$10,000 (approximately R$ 19,500,000) to Palestine. According to estimates of the United Nations, US$613,000,000 (approximately R$1.2 billion) will be necessary to supply the immediate need of that region. According to calculations by Palestine authorities, that amount will reach US$2 billion (approximately R$3.9 billion).

Procedure
The bill is being processed in priority regime, but will still be analyzed in conclusive character at the Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship.

Report - Maria Neves
Editing - Marcos Rossi
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda