Brussels, 07/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - A conference of donors for Macedonia will be organised on Tuesday 12 March in Brussels. Its aim is to collect EUR 256 million for 2002. Announced for last autumn but postponed because of the Macedonian Parliament's delay in adopting reforms, the organisation of this conference was decided after the Macedonian parliamentarians had adopted the law on decentralisation. An estimate of needs was made by the European Commission and the World Bank, which are jointly organising the donors' conference. The EUR 256 million in Macedonia's external aid needs this year are largely due to macro-financial reasons (185 million), followed by 45 million for reconstruction projects (of which 28.6 million will be for rebuilding houses and 12 million for electricity distribution networks), and 25 million for the implementation of the Ohrid agreements, which marked the end of the conflict last August (for additional staff, translations, etc.). The conference will partly help to gather the financial assistance already pledged for this year. The Commission is filling in its contribution card at the Conference, largely taking up what is earmarked in the 2002 budget. EUR 41.5 million are included in the Community budget this year for reconstruction in Macedonia, to which must be added macro-financial aid of a little under EUR 70 million in grants and loans. Furthermore, the sum of EUR 26 million from the emergency programme adopted in 2001 has not yet been entirely spent (although the exact amount is not known). The Commission is said to be examining whether it is able to provide additional funds for this programme, European sources explain.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski was in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday. At the end of their meeting, Romano Prodi and himself said they hoped that the donor conference would allow "for the opening of a new chapter in the reconstruction of Macedonia's economy and relations between the EU and Macedonia". The Macedonian President spoke of his hope that his country "will not be dependent on international aid" but rather attract "foreign investments". Asked about the succession to NATO's Amber Fox operation, he declared that Macedonia "will be pleased with any decision taken jointly by the European Union and NATO".