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Frankfurt, June 12: The European Union and the World Bank will send a mission to Kosovo as soon as possible, that is to say as soon as their security is assured, EU commissioner Yves-Thibault De Silguy said on Saturday. "That should be very quickly now," De Silguy told journalists on arrival at a meeting of G-7 finance ministers here. International aid to countries affected by the conflict in Kosovo is on top of the agenda of the meeting of finance ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
The meeting is being held to prepare for the summit of government leaders and heads of state of the G-7 and G-8 countries in Cologne next week. The reconstruction of Kosovo was to be the topic of talks at lunch and that part of the discussion was also to be attended by representatives of the Russian government, led by finance minister Mikhail Kasayanov and World Bank president James Wolfensohn. "The most important thing at this stage is to evaluate the needs. The World Bank and EUcommission want to send a mission as soon as possible...and the most urgent after that is the problem of reinstatement of the refugees," De Silguy said. "It is clear that Europe will play a leading role" in the process of reconstruction, De Silguy said. The EU and the World Bank are to jointly coordinate the reconstruction of Kosovo, which last week De Silguy had said could cost up to 18 billion euros.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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