Arab Spring pledges must be delivered: UAE

ABU DHABI: The UAE urged the international community on Thursday to deliver on pledges of billions of dollars of aid that was promised to Arab countries after last year’s uprisings but has not been disbursed.

In September, the Group of Eight major nations pledged $38 billion in financing to Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan over 2011-13 under the “Deauville Initiative.”

The International Monetary Fund promised a further $35 billion to countries affected by Arab Spring unrest.

But very little of that money has actually been handed over, as political instability in needy countries deters some donor governments and institutions, and as other donors struggle with budget pressures of their own.

“We call upon the international community to begin implementing the items set by the Deauville statement, particularly with regard to funding amounts specified,” said Younes Haji Al-khouri, undersecretary at the UAE’S Ministry of Finance. He was speaking to a meeting of officials from the G8, Arab states in Abu Dhabi.

Half of the $38 billion is supposed to be provided by G8 and Arab states, and half by multilateral lenders such as World Bank.

Egypt is close to a currency crisis as its foreign reserves shrink by about $2 billion every month, but it has received little emergency aid apart from a total of $1 billion sent by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Egypt’s prime minister said this week that donors had made any aid contingent on Cairo first reaching agreement on a financing package with the IMF. That agreement could take many weeks to reach, since it is likely to require Egypt to commit to economic reforms. The UAE has itself promised aid to Egypt. Obaid Humaid Al-tayer, the UAE’S minister of state for financial affairs, said in October that his country planned to provide $3 billion but was still discussing the delivery mechanism.