BRUSSELS: DONORS' CONFERENCE COLLECTS EUR 2.4 BILLION

BRUSSELS, March 30 (Hina) - The Stability Pact for Southeast Europe's Regional Funding Conference ended on Thursday with an announcement that donor countries and international financial institutions would finance various projects in Pact countries in the worth of EUR2.4 billion.#L# Stability Pact coordinator Bodo Hombach assessed the announcement as an outstanding result. The worth of projects presented when the conference opened yesterday amounted to EUR1.78 billion, which means that the final result significantly exceeded initial expectations. Of the total amount, EUR430 million has been announced for the financing of projects of the Stability Pact's so called first task force, namely the one tackling democracy and human rights. EUR1.83 billion has been announced for projects of the Pact's task force for economy, of which EUR290 million to support private initiatives. And finally, donor countries announced EUR81 million for projects of the Pact's task force for security issues. (hina) ha jn