CAIRO: International donors to the Palestinians will meet on April to follow up on commitments made at the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, a Norwegian diplomat told AFP.
Egypt said after the conference that nearly $5.2 billion was pledged by international donors to rebuild the Gaza Strip and support the Palestinian economy after the Israeli attack on the coastal enclave.
There are many questions to look at, from the details of the amounts to how they will be used, Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Haakon Svane said, indicating that the meeting may take place in Oslo.
Norway, which with Egypt co-chaired the Sharm El-Sheikh event, is president of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee of donors to the Palestinians.
Svane said Egypt has yet to supply details of the aid commitments. The total of $4.481 billion announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit is far above the amount sought by the Palestinian Authority and is more than the total of published contributions.
I don t think we have taken the decision to publish them, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP when asked for the details.
Aboul Gheit said the total consists of new promises of aid and did not include existing commitments by donors.
The Palestinian Authority had asked for $2.8 billion, composed of $1.3 billion for reconstruction and economic development in Gaza and $1.5 billion to fill the authority s expected 2009 budget deficit.
Palestinian development minister Samir Abdallah was pleased with the pledges. This conference has been 100 percent successful, he said.
Major contributors were the United States ($900 million), the Gulf states ($1.65 billion over five years), the European Commission ($554 million in 2009) and Japan ($200 million).
Other countries which announced aid were Italy ($100 million over four years), Britain ($45 million), France ($31 million immediately), Morocco and South Korea ($15 million each), Australia ($12.9 million), Ireland ($2.6 million) and Lebanon ($1 million). -AFP
