FRANCE: UN's Ban Ki-Moon meets Sarkozy on sidelines of Afghanistan donors conference in Paris

Record ID: 566399

  • Title: FRANCE: UN's Ban Ki-Moon meets Sarkozy on sidelines of Afghanistan donors conference in Paris
  • Date: 13th June 2008
  • Summary: (EU)PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 12, 2008) (REUTERS) FRENCH POLICE AT BARRIER
  • Embargoed: 28th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FP70565H30UJX1K0YW1ANM6K
  • Story Text: United Nations (U.N.) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon held a bi-lateral meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the sidelines of an international donor's conference hosted by France on Thursday (June 12).
    Ban Ki-Moon addressed delegates to the conference at which the donor nations, led by the United States, pledged 15.54 billion U.S. dollars in aid for Afghanistan.
    Washington promised 10.2 billion U.S. dollars to help one of the world's poorest countries deal with an insurgency, poverty, drug trafficking and corruption 6-1/2 years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power.
    Among the pledges, the Asian Development Bank said it would provide 1.3 billion U.S. dollars , Britain promised 1.2 billion U.S. dollars and the World Bank around 1.1 billion U.S. dollars . Germany promised 420 euros (648 million U.S. dollars ) and, before the conference, Japan pledged 550 million U.S.
    dollars .
    Sarkozy said France would more than double its aid and his office said the French government would offer 107 million euros from 2008 to 2010.
    The meeting was attended by representatives from more than 15 international organisations, including Ban Ki-moon.
    Donors are not expected to pledge a full $50 billion U.S. dollars, as Afghanistan had requested, but the meeting is intended to be a show of support for Afghanistan after a NATO summit in April examined military strategy for the more than 50,000 foreign troops stationed there.
    It was unclear how much of the 15.54 billion U.S. dollars pledged in loans and grants represented fresh money.
    The U.S. pledge, for example, consists of sums that the Bush administration has already made public in budget requests to the U.S. Congress and much of it has yet to be approved by lawmakers.
    Envoys pledged to improve coordination of an aid effort often criticised as chaotic and inefficient and demanded greater efforts by Afghanistan to fight corruption.
    More than 50,000 foreign troops are based in the country trying to restore stability following the late 2001 ousting of the Taliban, which had hosted al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
    About 6,000 people were killed last year in the insurgency by a rejuvenated Taliban, which has vowed to step up a campaign of suicide bombings to try to break the will of Western public opinion to keep international forces in Afghanistan.
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