The Consultative Group of aid donors to Cambodia concluded a two-day meeting Friday in Tokyo, promising a $470 million one-year aid package to Phnom Pen.
The aid package is to be accompanied by a mechanism to monitor the implementation of a series of reforms Cambodia has pledged to carry out, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, chairwoman of the meeting, said at a news conference. "The pledged amount is $20 million larger than the anticipated $450 million in Cambodian aid, thanks to the donors' understanding of Cambodia's efforts for economic recovery and development," she said.
Japan, Cambodia's largest aid donor, offered $100 million toward the package and also conveyed its intention to offer an unspecified amount of yen loans, the first offer of such loans to Cambodia in 31 years, said Hideaki Domichi, deputy director general of the Economic Cooperation Bureau at the Foreign Ministry.