EC/developing countries: rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in developing countries

The Committee on Development and Cooperation adopted the report by Mr ANDREWS and Mrs BALDI approving the regulation seeking to implement rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the Mediterranean countries, the countries of Latin America and Asia and the developing countries of the Caucasus and central Asia. These operations should progressively take over from humanitarian aid and pave the way for the resumption of medium- and long-term development aid. The rapporteurs felt that, in particular, they should permit refugees, displaced persons and demobilized soldiers to return home and help the entire population to resume normal civilian life in their countries and regions of origin. The rapporteurs considered that the operations to be implemented as a matter of priority should be the physical and operational rehabilitation of basic infrastructures, including mine clearance, operations to relaunch production, the social reintegration of refugees, displaced persons and demobilized soldiers, training, documentation and education to counter the effects of internal conflict and destabilization operations in the region and the restoration of institutional capacities. They also called for resources to be used to develop economic activity, mainly by creating SMEs and promoting regional economic integration between the Member States of the SADCC. The rapporteurs also called for local partners to make a financial contribution, mainly to operating costs, where a project was designed as a start up for an on-going activity, in order to safeguard the sustainability of projects once Community funding had ceased.�