http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051207135444&irec=6
Australia's Indonesian tsunami aid nears A$1 billion SYDNEY (AFP): Australia has allocated nearly all of its one billion dollars (US$750 million) pledged for tsunami relief in Indonesia, senior ministers said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Treasurer Peter Costello said in the latest talks, Australian and Indonesian officials had agreed on the allocation of 663 million dollars in loans and aid. "This brings the total amount of funds committed under the one billion dollar Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development to almost 950 million dollars since March this year," they said in a joint statement. Most of the latest funding will be spent on roads and schools, with the overall program aiming to help Indonesia achieve economic growth and improve emergency preparedness and response. Indonesia was the country worst-hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami triggered by a massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra which killed hundreds of thousands around the Indian Ocean. The province of Aceh suffered enormous losses and Downer and Costello said the new funding would help post-tsunami reconstruction there as well as across Indonesia. The new funding includes 300 million dollars in concessional loans and 28 million dollars in grants for a national road improvement program and 200 million dollars in concessional loans and 100 million dollars in grants for education projects. Eight million dollars will be spent to rebuild Aceh's main port facility at Banda Aceh, where Downer will travel Thursday to view progress. A separate statement from the Australian ministers and their Indonesian counterparts warned that challenges in Aceh and North Sumatra remained "immense". Despite a generous international response to the disaster in Aceh, "important humanitarian and reconstruction needs remain unmet," it said. (**) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 1.2 million kids a year are victims of human trafficking. Stop slavery. http://us.click.yahoo.com/WpTY2A/izNLAA/yQLSAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
