§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government: What steps they are taking to ensure that the European Commission meets its commitment to provide 1.24 billion dollars for reconstruction assistance in Afghanistan; and whether they will question the European Commission as to why only 386 million dollars of that amount has been disbursed. [HL3463]
§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos):According to Afghan Government figures, the European Commission has pledged 1.28 billion dollars reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan for the period January 2002 to March 2007. Although disbursement of 386 million dollars so far may be slower than anticipated, we are not yet half way through the pledging period. We anticipate the rate of spend will increase rapidly.
DfID will use its regular contacts with the Commission, both in Brussels and in Kabul, to press for full and effective disbursement of the resources committed. DfID also funds a seconded national expert to work on the Commission's Afghanistan programme.