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| Tuesday, 11 January 2005 |
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by Manjula Fernando Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama left the country early yesterday to attend the World leaders' pledging conference today where one billion dollars is expected to be received for reconstruction operations in the tsunami affected regions. The conference in Geneva is attended by major international donor countries including France, Germany, USA, Britain, China, Netherlands, Japan and three main donor agencies Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the IMF. They will discuss possible debt relief for affected countries. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will Chair the conference where the UN expects to raise US$ 1 billion for basic humanitarian assistance for the next six months. The UN took the initiative to call for the Geneva pledging conference at the ASEAN leaders meeting in Jakarta. Already the world has pledged US $ 4 billion as relief assistance and US, France, Germany, Britain and Japan has called for debt relief for affected nations to recover from the shock. Sri Lanka's death toll has risen to 30,700 by yesterday and another 833,000 have been displaced due to the tragedy. Dr.Amunugama was accompanied to Geneva by Treasury Secretary Dr.P.B.Jayasundara and Foreign Ministry Director for General Economic Affairs Prasad Kariyawasam. |
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