The International Fund for Ireland (IFU) is to receive €45 million (£35 million) in contributions from the European Union in the three years from 2000 to 2002, the chairman of the fund, Mr Willie McCarter, has stated.

Speaking at the launch of the fund's annual report in Derry, Mr McCarter said that the confirmation of the additional EU funding was a very welcome endorsement of the fund's activities.

Mr McCarter said that a report commissioned from KPMG on the impact of the fund in the 10 years to 1997 shows that £314 million had been committed to 3,627 projects and that for every pound spent by the fund, a further £2 was leveraged, producing a total investment of £948 million.

Fund projects had helped to generate the equivalent of over 31,000 full-time jobs and that 89 per cent of the fund's expenditure was in disadvantaged areas on both sides of the Border. Almost 9,000 trainees from north and south had participated in the fund's programmes and 90 per cent of these had gone on to full-time employment or further education.

The IFI was established by the British and Irish governments in 1986 with the aim of promoting economic and social advancement.