§ Mr. RoyTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will make a statement on the efforts and contributions made by the Government in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. [121298]
§ Hilary BennAt the Ministerial Conference in Tokyo (January 2002), DFID pledged £200 million over five years for development assistance in Afghanistan. In 2002–03, we provided £75 million including £12.7 million to help clear Afghanistan's arrears to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, unlocking highly concessional loans of approximately $500 million over the next two years. For this financial year, DFID is willing to increase our Tokyo commitment of £40 million per year to £50 million, linked to progress on civil service reform. The joint FCO-DFID-MOD Global Conflict Prevention Pool will provide a further £16.8 million this year. In addition, DFID will contribute an estimated £40 million through multilateral channels (EC, IDA) this year.