Background to KR
The Japan's KR grant to provide food aid is named after the Kennedy Round, under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1967, where an international agreement on food aid was achieved. It is a mechanism for providing basic food supplies, such as rice, wheat or maize, to countries where there is an urgent need for such provisions.
KR Details
To be eligible as a recipient of food aid, a country shall be listed as aid recipients by DAC-OECD, effective as of 1st January 1997, and/or countries included in the WTO list of net food importing developing countries, effective of 1st March 1999. An eligible recipient government in need of food aid will apply to the Government of Japan for support. Should the two governments agree that a KR grant is a suitable mechanism to provide such aid a formal government-to-government agreement will be signed. As part of this agreement, a procurement agent shall be appointed to ensure the procurement process is undertaken in a timely, efficient and transparent manner, as well as to maximise the value for money provided.
After the food is delivered, the recipient country shall provide counter value funds in local currency, which shall be an agreed proportion of the KR grant funds provided. The recipient government shall, after liaising with the Japanese government, apply these funds to suitable development programmes or projects.
Crown Agents and KR
Crown Agents has considerable experience in conducting similar procurements to those required under KR. Where Crown Agents is appointed as the Procurement Agent we shall manage the entire procurement process, in close co-ordination with the recipient government, to ensure the required food is efficiently procured and delivered.