Brussels - Georgia was Wednesday promised a higher-than-
expected 4.55 billion dollars in aid over the next three years to
help it recover from its 5-day war with Russia.
Pledges were made by some 40 countries and 15 international
organizations attending a donors' conference in Brussels.
The total far exceeded the 3.2 billion dollars that the World Bank
had estimated Georgia would need to rebuild its infrastructure,
settle its refugees and get its economy back on track.
'We are deeply moved and humbled by the demonstration of
solidarity and support that we have received,' said Georgian Prime
Minister Lado Gurgenidze, noting that the pledges were being made as
governments around the world were struggling to contain the effects
of a global financial crisis.
The premier also moved to reassure foreign taxpayers that the aid
would not be misspent.
'Every single, euro, dollar and pound will make Georgia stronger,
more prosperous, freer, more democratic and more genuinely and
thoroughly European and will alleviate, to a significant degree, the
human suffering that has resulted in the aftermath of the August 7
conflict,' Gurgenidze said.
'This is a day of joy,' said EU External Affairs Commissioner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who jointly hosted the conference with the
World Bank.
Of the 4.5 billion dollars pledged on Wednesday, 2 billion dollars
will be in grants and the remaining in low-interest loans covering
the 2008-10 period, officials said.
The United States and the European Commission emerged as the
biggest single contributors, respectively providing 1 billion dollars
and 'up to' 500 million euros (642 million dollars) each.
And while not all countries wished to divulge their individual
contributions, diplomats in Brussels said Germany had pledged nearly
70 million euros, about as much as Sweden. Norway pledged 30 million
euros while France, whose president brokered the peace deal that
ended the August conflict, pledged 7 million euros.
World Bank Vice-President Shigeo Katsu said it was now important
for countries to move on from pledges to actual disbursements and to
getting projects on the ground started.
This year's growth projections for Georgia's economy have been cut
from 9 per cent to 3.5 per cent as a result of the August conflict,
which also produce 127,000 new internally displaced people fleeing in
and around the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
At the start of the conference, European Commission President Jose
Manuel Barroso said European countries had 'a moral imperative' to
help their neighbours in need.
But experts say earthly considerations also played a key role.
Two pipelines carrying oil and gas from the Caspian region to
Turkey currently cross Georgia. And in an effort to reduce its energy
dependency on Russia, the EU is working on extending the Baku-Erzurum
pipeline with a planned Nabucco pipeline that will eventually deliver
gas to the heart of Europe, in Austria.
The EU is also trying to bring Georgia closer to Europe by
providing visa facilities to its citizens and by trying to arrange a
free-trade deal with the government.
Russia was not invited to Wednesday's conference.
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