Spain has pledged 240 million euros (348 million U.S. dollars) in aid over three years to back Palestinian government reforms, Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, said at the sidelines of a donor conference in France, according to news reaching here Monday.
Some 60 million euros (87 million U.S. dollars) of the total will be direct budgetary aid, of which some 20 million will be disbursed starting from January.
"We have come to commit politically and financially to the Palestinian state and we have been very pleased by the reform plan," presented by Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abas and PNA Prime Minister Salam Fayed, said Moratinos.
"I think this represents a great success for the international community and above all the historic commitment between Israelis and Palestinians to move forward and achieve a Palestinian state toward the end of 2008," he added.
Monday's international donors' conference was designed as a key follow-up to the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis meeting, at which Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to negotiate a peace treaty before the end of 2008.
Representatives from some 90 countries and international institutions attended the conference, the largest international donors' conference since Paris held a similar one more than a decade ago, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Source: Xinhua
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