Brussels, 13/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is concerned that the operating budget of the interim authority of Afghanistan may be suffering from a funding deficit of some 181 million dollars, and Commissioner Chris Patten has written to the Member States of the European Union and thirteen third countries to ask them to make greater sums available, and to look at increasing their overall contributions to rebuilding the country. The letter was addressed to the Foreign Ministers of Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Fifteen. Mr Patten noted that "Afghanistan is now at a crucial point in its existence (...). Until now, the aid supplied to Afghanistan by the international community has been considerable, and the commitments made in Tokyo have been fully respected. We now have to continue on this trajectory".