WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) The United States is launching a new fund to help finance private sector initiatives to respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic around the world, the US Department of State announced in a media note.
"The US Department of State and US Agency for International Development (USAID) are launching a new COVID-19 Private Sector Engagement and Partnership Fund with $10 million ... to bolster our ongoing response efforts, helping the world's most vulnerable overcome the devastation inflicted by this deadly virus," the note said on Wednesday.
Working with Congress, the fund will strengthen private sector efforts to respond to the economic effects of the virus, the State Department explained.
"The fund will create a formal and transparent process to surface innovative private sector solutions to mitigating the secondary impacts of COVID-19 in developing countries. It will then seed-fund the most promising of these solutions within the context of Department of State and USAID global programming," the note said.
The State Department is now issuing a notice of funding opportunity to the private sector to highlight approaches, products, and ideas in response to the pandemic that have the potential to be expanded, the note added.
The State Department and USAID have committed more than $1.6 billion for COVID-19 response since the outbreak began, according to the note.
