HL Deb 25 January 2000 vol 608 c186WA
Lord Moynihan

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What response they envisage to the request by the United Nations Special Representative in Kosovo, Dr Bernard Kouchner, who in December 1999 told the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, "We need money. Without money, no success … without money, no confidence … without money, no restarting of daily life". [HL568]

Baroness Scotland of Asthal

We agree that UNMIK needs adequate resources to accomplish its mission. We continue to make a significant contribution and urge others in the international community to do likewise.

The UK pays 6.2 per cent of UN-assessed contributions to UNMIK. We were one of the first nations to contribute bilaterally, giving US$1 million to UNMIK in July 1999. The Department for International Development (DfID) has also contributed US$2 million to support demobilisation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and has allocated US$1 million for projects to be carried out by the newly formed Kosovo Protection Corps. DfID has recently contributed £1.25 million for civil registration to prepare for elections in Kosovo later this year.

At the international donors' conference in Brussels last November, the UK announced that it would be devoting up to US$10 million in budgetary support to UNMIK this year. The European Commission announced an EU contribution of up to 35 million euros in budgetary support as part of a broader assistance package for economic reconstruction which could reach some 500 million euros in 2000.