The conference on Palestinian security hoped to produce "concrete commitments" from the international community to strengthen Palestinian security, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.
The one-day conference has "a very special task": to help build a Palestinian state," she said at the opening ceremony of the conference.
The Berlin conference was attended by representatives from more than 40 countries including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
U.S. Secretary of State Rice called on donor nations to carry out their commitments to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and help build the security infrastructure needed for a viable state.
The PA has drawn up a comprehensive list of projects that must be funded to improve the judicial system, Rice said, asking donors to fund all the projects that the PA has identified.
Foreign Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Stoere said the PA's budget will reach a critical point within a few weeks, which "will directly affect reform of the security sector."
Germany expected countries to be committed to donating 184 million U.S. dollars during the conference.
The international community pledged 7 billion dollars in Paris in December to improve security conditions for the Palestinians.
Source:Xinhua
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