Brussels, 13/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The finance ministers of several EU Member States, the United States and Russia, and the directors of several international institutions will be meeting on Tuesday in Paris under the aegis of European Commissioner Pedro Solbes and Managing Director of the World Bank Sven Sandstrom. They will seek to coordinate aid to Serbia. The meeting of this "High Level Steering Group for South East Europe" is not intended to receive pledges of donations to Serbia but to evaluate the urgent needs for this winter and draw up a timetable that should lead to a donors' conference in the first months of next year.
The meeting will also be of interest to the Balkans as a whole and will confirm that aid to Serbia will not deflect aid from the other countries of the region, stress the organisers. The meeting may decide that conferences for specific donors for some countries will be organised as well as a regional conference for supporting projects that group together regions of several countries.
First EU emergency aid (heating fuel) arrives at destination
The first aid from the emergency aid package provided to Serbia by the European Union reached destination this weekend in the form of heating fuel. A twenty truck convoy carrying heating fuel to several Serb towns arrived on Saturday and others should soon follow. The Commission's aim is to take 120,000 tonnes of heating fuel to Serbia during the winter. Out of the EUR 200 million in emergency aid, 80 million would be devoted to energy supplies (heating fuel and electricity). Through its "energy for democracy" programme, the EU had already provided fuel to the municipalities held by the democratic opposition, while Slobodan Milosevic was still in power.