Poland spent over zł.1 billion on foreign aid in 2007

Some zł.188 million of that went to China, according to a ministry report - however, this money was part of a trade agreement and not development aid, officials admitted.

"A trade agreement with China had been accounted as aid for purely statistical reasons. There was no political intention here," admitted Marek Ziółkowski, director of the Development Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the explanation was made with "obvious embarrassment."

When it comes to actual aid doled out by the government, about zł.549 million was spent on contributions to developing aid budgets of institutions such as the EU, UN and other international organizations. Students from Belarus, Ukraine, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria, among others, benefited from scholarships which amounted to zł.47 million, while over 350 development projects in various parts of the world were also financed for some zł.90 million.

Belsat, a Belarusian-language TV broadcaster based in Poland, was the single largest project listed in the report - it received zł.16 million. In Africa, zł.12 million was used mainly to build infrastructure such as wells and schools, as well as providing healthcare and education.