New Delhi/Brussels, 30/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten, during the five days visit that he has just ended in India, met the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Finance Jaswant Singh and Jashwant Sinha, to whom he said that, beyond the emergency aid of EUR 3 million already promised by the EU following the earthquake that ravaged India, the European Union is considering medium and long-term aid for the reconstruction of the affected regions. Mr Patten informed the Indian government over the total aid provided until now by the EU and the Member States, and the Swedish Ambassador Johan Nortenfeld, representative for the Swedish Presidency, provided the Ministers for Foreign Affairs with a detailed description of the efforts made until now by the EU Member States - EUR 19 million total - and indicated that the diplomatic representatives of the Union countries in Delhi will regularly meet to discuss the situation. In Brussels, the spokesperson for Mr Patten, in answering questions, indicated, for a comparison, that the United States had until now provided India with aid of around USD 5 million.
Furthermore, the Swedish Presidency made, on behalf of the EU, the following declaration: "deeply saddened by the tragic news of the devastation brought about by the earthquake in Gujarat on 26 January, and the widespread destruction and human suffering in its wake, the European Union expresses its deepest sympathy to the Government and people of India and especially to those affected by this catastrophe. The EU and the individual Member States have responded to the disaster by making available human, material and financial resources in order to assist the authorities in their efforts to bring relief to the many victims. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union, the associate countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey and the EFTA countries members of the EEA, align themselves with this declaration.