Donors have responded to Burundi’s call for international assistance with $2 billion in aid commitments through 2015.
The total amount of pledges made at a two-day international donors’ conference in Switzerland surpassed Burundi’s target of mobilizing up to $1.1 billion for its 2012-15 development plan.
“This represents a doubling of our already optimistic expectations,” Pamphile Muderega, permanent secretary of the National Aid Coordination Committee, said in a statement released by the U.N. Development Program.
UNDP was one of the organizers of the donors’ conference in Geneva and helped draft Burundi’s new development strategy, which identifies six priority goals to be achieved by 2015. The plan is estimated to cost $2.1 billion to implement, of which Burundi aims to generate 48 percent from its own resources and secure the rest from its development partners.
The World Bank committed $400 million, according to UNDP spokesman Adam Rogers. The bank is currently preparing a new country strategy for Burundi for 2013-16. This strategy, which was discussed Oct. 24 by the bank’s board, has two objectives: boost business competitiveness and increase resilience.
The European Union and the United States also made firm commitments to support’s Burundi’s development plan, Rogers said, according to Reuters.
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