Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: U.S., Japan pledge $400 million to aid ex-Soviets Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 15:33:28 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD U.S., Japan pledge $400 million to aid ex-Soviets \BY Irene Kunii \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT TOKYO TOKYO - Japan and the United States pledged yesterday to provide nearly $400 million in emergency winter aid to republics of the former Soviet Union. An official of the International Monetary Fund estimated that Russia alone would need $22 billion in assistance next year. Delegates to the Tokyo Conference on Assistance to New Independent States also heard a stark warning to the republics to speed up radical market reforms or risk international isolation. Hosting the two-day conference, Japanese Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe said his government would grant $100 million to regions of the former Soviet Union, with an emphasis on the Russian Far East, to help them survive the coming winter. Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, among the delegates from 70 countries and 20 international organizations, said Washington would provide $260 million in food aid and $14 million in emergency medical supplies. "Our presence here is in recognition of the fact that the fate of the peoples of the former Soviet Union is not a European problem or an American problem but a global concern which is key to our collective hopes of truly realizing a peaceful and democratic world order," Mr. Eagleburger said. The Tokyo meeting is the third and last in a series that began in Washington in January and moved to Lisbon in May. The chief aim is to evaluate the economic situation in the former Soviet republics as well as gauge how much food and medicine is needed to tide the struggling countries over the harsh winter. Mr. Eagleburger told delegates the international community must recognize the hardships that the process of economic reforms was bringing to the people of the former Soviet Union. But he stressed that "we cannot aid those who are unwilling to help themselves." "The new states must promote competition, tax reform, genuine property and contract rights and de-monopolization," Mr. Eagleburger said. "And they must stay the democratic course. Those who would contemplate another path must know that they will face isolation from the community of democratic nations." Richard Erb, deputy managing director of the IMF, said the former Soviet states would require more financial assistance than predicted originally. "Our provisional estimates suggest an official financing requirement in 1993 for Russia alone of $22 billion . . . on the assumption that monetary and fiscal policies are significantly tightened before the end of this year," he said. The figure would be even larger if, as some experts predict, Russia has to assume more than its 61 percent share of the service of the former Soviet debt. "None of us understands the total needs," said a U.S. official who accompanied Mr. Eagleburger. He said that, in some areas, the need is "almost bottomless when it comes to medicines." The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, also said that countries such as Russia, which have been moving ahead with economic and political reforms, will see their standard of living continue to drop and must reform quickly to get beyond this very painful period to a new era of growth. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM