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Afghanistan: UN development chief calls for generous reconstruction aid

Afghanistan: UN development chief calls for generous reconstruction aid

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On the eve of an international conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan the top United Nations development official has called for sustained global support as the war-shattered country seeks $27.5 billion over the coming seven years.

“The international community has already been generous in supporting Afghanistan over the past two years,” UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown said in a statement. “Now is the time to build further on the important investment made so far.”

Mr. Malloch Brown, who will co-chair a panel on reconstruction at the international conference in Berlin on 31 March and 1 April, was commenting on a new report titled "Securing Afghanistan's Future," released by the Afghan Government in Kabul this week.

“Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world, but we now have a historic opportunity to buttress its growth, and make sure that it reaches its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” Mr. Malloch Brown said of the targets set by the UN Millennium Summit for addressing worldwide such ills as poverty and hunger by 2015.

He emphasized that the report’s $27.5 billion goal must be met in order to move forward with reconstruction and avoid regressing into chaos and lawlessness.

The study, authored by the Afghan Government with assistance from the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, UNDP and the World Bank, assesses the structure of the country’s economy and concludes that agriculture will continue to play a significant role in its development. It stresses that the profitability of the agricultural sector will depend on investments in roads, water, power and health care.

In another development the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UN High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) will meet on Monday in Islamabad for the regular review of the voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan. Of the 1.1 million Afghans estimated to be in official camps after fleeing to Pakistan in waves over the past quarter century, 400,000 are expected to return during 2004. In addition, there are a substantial but unknown number of Afghans living elsewhere in Pakistan.

About 20,000 have returned since UNHCR resumed assisting repatriation at the beginning of this March – a faster pace than last year.