Brussels/Agency Caucasus – The Western world has decided to pour billions of dollars in aid to help Georgia recover from its bloody, all-out war that it waged on August 7 against South Ossetia, a small country in the Caucasus region.
The Western countries are donating $4.5 billion in financial aid to Georgia so that it can now start to improve itself. The European Union (EU) alone has pledged to make a donation of $700 million, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said in his address on Wednesday to an audience at a donors’ conference in Brussels. The EU countries were morally obliged to supply their neighbours in need with help, Barroso said. He added that by helping Georgia, the EU actually acted for its own good because several pipelines that carried gas and oil from the Caspian region to Europe crossed Georgia. In addition to a donation of $1 billion that the United States (US) had formerly announced and pledged to make, other international donators agreed to give up to $2.8 billion to Tbilisi. The European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said that $3.7 billion would be allocated for public service, while $850 000 would be spent to help financially owners of the private sector companies.
South Ossetia, however, is the actual victim of the Georgian war because it has suffered heavy casualties. It has received no financial aid from the Western countries at all, except for very small amounts of humanitarian aid that come from ‘some’ international organizations.
FT
