22/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Hassan Sobir, the Ambassador of the Maldives to the EU, has written an open letter to Union Development Ministers on post-Tsunami aid to his country. The Ambassador expressed his gratitude at the amount of assistance from the EU, pointing out in particular that the Commission has decided to commit the entire sum designated for reconstruction (16.9 million euro) in 2005 rather than over two years as had originally been pledged, and that the European Investment Bank had asked that the Maldives be included in the permanent loan facility to Asian and Latin American countries (the European Parliament has to approve this proposal; in the meantime, the EIB has granted the country a 50 million euro loan for reconstruction). However, the ambassador asks the EU “not to consider the job finished” but, along with the international community, to tackle two key problems: the funding gap (approximately 113 million dollars) between aid considered essential and pledges from the international community, and problems of aid delivery. “The Maldives has been working hard, with the help of the EU”, but, “the reconstruction process will take decades to complete”, writes Mr Sobir.