Donors pledge over $5 billion in aid to Pakistan

TOKYO, April 17 Kyodo -
Pakistan garnered more than $5 billion, or 500 billion yen, in fresh aid for a
two-year period from July at a 49-member donors conference Friday in Tokyo in a
move to help the country bolster its faltering economy and combat terrorism.
The amount, more than the $4 billion initially sought by Pakistan, includes $1
billion each pledged by Japan and the United States over the two years and $700
million by Saudi Arabia over the same period. The European Union said it will
chip in $640 million over four years.
In a surprise move, Iran offered to extend $300 million to Pakistan, which many
countries see as a ''frontline state'' in the global fight against terrorism.
''Donors coming out with these pledges for Pakistan means a lot for Pakistan
and the people of Pakistan,'' Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
said after the one-day meeting, adding he was ''more than satisfied'' by the
final tallies.
''What was valuable to me is the expression of solidarity for Pakistan,
political support given to Pakistan by the international community,'' Qureshi
said at a news conference.
Citing the larger-than-expected assistance, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi
Nakasone said he wants Pakistan to ''ensure stability via economic reforms and
carry out antiterrorism measures in partnership with related countries'' such
as Afghanistan.
Japan places special emphasis on Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, given
the country's unstable border areas with Afghanistan where al-Qaida and the
Taliban are resurgent. The United States, Tokyo's closest ally, also sees
nuclear-armed Pakistan as crucial for the stabilization of Afghanistan.
''Without the stability of Pakistan, there can be no stable Afghanistan, and
vice versa,'' Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said earlier at the meeting.
Japan and other donors share Pakistan's concern that an economic meltdown in
the country could spark support for extremism, which would further undermine
security in Southwest Asia.
''The stability of the border region of the two countries is the key to
success,'' Aso said. ''And I would like to stress the need for the
international community to support both Pakistan and Afghanistan as they work
out their own comprehensive strategies vis-a-vis the border region.''

While commending Pakistan on addressing the macroeconomic crisis and taking
politically difficult reforms, donors urged the country to ''maintain reform
momentum,'' citing concern about ''low tax revenue generation and its impact on
macroeconomic planning,'' according to a co-chairs statement issued after the
meeting.
Pakistan narrowly averted a balance of payments crisis last November when it
secured a loan of $7.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund.
Mirroring the statement, World Bank Vice President Isabel Guerrero emphasized
that Pakistan needs to increase tax revenues so it can reduce the dependency of
aid.
''The $5 billion will be served for different purposes, importantly for
shelters for the poor from the macroeconomic adjustment, from the shocks of a
food crisis, oil price increases, also from the economic recession,'' Guerrero
said.
Earlier in the day, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari voiced determination
to ''fight this tremendous challenge'' and called for broad support, saying
that defeat for the nation of 170 million people is not an option. ''We do not
and cannot afford it.''
''If we lose, you lose,'' said Zardari, the widower of assassinated former
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. ''If we lose, the world loses.''
Calling for a ''broad-based, regional'' approach, Prime Minister Aso stressed
the need for the international community to involve the countries of Central
Asia and Iran when drawing up an assistance strategy for Pakistan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said assistance for Pakistan will
not only help the country but all countries in the region.
''There is no geographical border in fighting against terrorism,'' Mottaki told
journalists. ''It is time to have a real and practical change in approach to
our help to Pakistan'' and it would assist ''all of us to prevent an expansion
of extremism,'' he said.
Aso said Iran's role in antinarcotics efforts and refugee assistance is
important for ensuring peace and stability in Southwest Asia.
The Tokyo talks involved the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Ministerial Meeting
in the morning, where Pakistan expressed its political commitment to economic
reform and counterterrorism, and the Pakistan Donors Conference in the
afternoon, where co-chairs Japan and the World Bank tallied the pledges made
for Pakistan by each party.
(Takaki Tominaga, Shinya Ajima, Miya Tanaka and Mariko Yasumoto contributed to
this story.)
==Kyodo