KHARTOUM, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sealed on Thursday a program worth of 91 million U.S. Dollars to support the general elections in the country, said a statement of the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC).

The statement said that the project will help enhance the NEC's capacity of organizing the elections, slated for April 2010.

The program will cover all the materials needed for the elections including voting cards, ballot boxes, and educational campaigns for voters, together with training sessions for election officers and local police, according to the statement.

The UNDP will ran the program, which is funded by the governments of Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Netherlands, France and the European Commission, the statement said.

NEC Chairman Abil Alier said in the statement that the program indicated commitment of the international partners to support the electoral process in the country.

"With the financial support, provided by the donors, the NEC can affirm its ability to organize free, fair and credible elections", he said.

The NEC earlier estimated the total budget of the elections at around one billion dollars. However, in the country's general budget, which was endorsed on Nov. 17, 2009, a sum of 790 million SDGs (about 330 million Dollars) was approved as a budget for the general elections and the referendum on self-determination for southern Sudan.

The Sudanese government signed an agreement earlier with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will grant 25 million dollars, as the first installment, in support of the electoral process.