WB raises quake aid to $40m

HELSINKI (Finland)—World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz said Saturday that the bank would step up its efforts to help quake-ravaged Pakistan but stressed it was necessary to pinpoint what the needs were. The bank had earlier pledged $20 million in aid to Pakistan.
“I’ve said already that we expect our contribution to grow significantly, especially in the reconstruction phase,” Wolfowitz told reporters in Helsinki, Finland. He emphasized that the flow of aid must match the needs of people in the areas devastated by the Oct. 8 quake that killed an estimated 79,000 people and left more than 3 million homeless.
“The scale of the disaster is so enormous that, frankly, a big part of the effort has to go to figuring what the needs really are,” he said. “If you don’t do it the right way you end up sending airplanes, helicopters with goods that are not needed”.
The former U.S. deputy defense secretary spoke to reporters before addressing a seminar on the World Bank in the Finnish capital. World Bank spokesman Derek Warren told newsmen later Saturday that the bank has already decided to allocate a further $20 million in aid to Pakistan, raising its total commitment to $40 million.
Warren also said a special Web page, showing in detail how and where in Pakistan the World Bank funds will be used, has been opened. Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy defense secretary, spoke to reporters before addressing a seminar on the World Bank in the Finnish capital. On cutting the barriers on global trade, he said the so-called Doha Round of trade talks in the World Trade Organization was “absolutely critical” to expanding free trade, which he said would bring relief to the world’s poorest countries.
The Doha round — named for the Qatari capital where it was launched in 2001 — is focused on addressing the needs of developing countries, for whom agriculture is a particularly sensitive topic.
“Trade barriers to the developing countries, particularly in the area of agriculture, are really shocking,” Wolfowitz said, calling “scandalous” the amounts that European nations, Japan and the United States use to subsidize and protect their agriculture industry. “Trade is even more important than aid” in helping the developing countries, he said. “A lot depends on progress in (the WTO’s December ministerial meeting in) Hong Kong. He added that WTO head Pascal Lamy “has perhaps the most difficult job in the world right now”.
“Everyone — developing countries and developed countries — have to give a little ... in order to get this process moving forward, which will benefit everyone around the world”.—Agencies