Geneva conference pledges $13b conditional aid

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Wednesday said the international community at the Geneva donor conference pledged $13 billion conditional assistance for Afghanistan over the next four years.

The 2020 Afghanistan Conference concluded on Tuesday expressed the international community’s enduring commitment to Afghanistan for the critical period until 2024.

The donors pledged at least US$ 3.3 billion for the first year of the upcoming quadrennial, with annual commitments expected to stay at the same level year-on-year.

Around 70 countries and more than 30 international organizations, along with Afghan government officials and civil society representatives participated in the conference.

A statement from MoF received by Pajhwok Afghan News said that the international community renewed its enduring support to the Afghan people in the summit.

The statement said that Afghanistan and its international partners renewed their commitments to shared goals from 2021 to 2024.

The donors pledged providing at least $3.3 billion in the first of four years and they were expected to keep the pledge of a similar mount in other years, the source added.

The ministry said all development assistance would depend on annual shared reviews of the government and its international partners and the donors would have the right to decide about the amount and nature of the assistance each year.

Finance minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal was quoted in the statement as saying, “We Afghans want end to violence and are committed to a political settlement that can end Afghans’ suffering and protect gains made in the past 19 years.”

UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Deborah Lyons was also quoted in the statement as saying that challenges Afghanistan faced were huge. However, he said the international community’s significant assistance to Afghanistan was promising.

He said the Geneva Conference and talks in Qatar represented a bilateral power that could pave the way for peace and prosperity in Afghanistan.

The finance ministry said the conference was concluded with a statement in which a comprehensive, permanent and immediate ceasefire was urged.

The statement also stressed that the peace process should give a meaningful role to women, youths and ethnic and religious minorities.

Mds/ma

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