03 September 2008
United States Pledges $1 Billion to Rebuild Georgia
Multiyear package part of international support for refugees, rebuilding
Washington — The United States will deliver a new $1 billion recovery package to help Georgia meet immediate humanitarian needs, enhance its stability and regain its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
“The people of Georgia withstood the assault from the Russian military, and the international community rallied to stand with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government,” President Bush said in a September 3 statement announcing the new aid effort.
“With our full support and with the support of the entire free world, a democratic Georgia will survive, will rebuild and will thrive,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in a State Department briefing on the new aid effort. She was joined by Special Envoy Matt Bryza, Under Secretary of State Reuben Jeffery and Richard L. Greene, deputy director of foreign assistance.
While Russia’s main forces have withdrawn from Georgia, hundreds of troops remain in Georgian territory, operating checkpoints outside the Moscow-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These checkpoints, which Russia calls “security zones,” are a violation of the European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement, Rice said. By controlling key ports and highways, Russia puts economic pressure on Georgia and threatens its democratically elected government. (See “Russia Still Violating Cease-fire in Georgia, Says White House.”)
The new recovery package will be aimed primarily at helping the Georgian government meet the immediate needs of thousands of Georgian families, Rice said. The new package will also support reconstruction of roadways, communities and utility networks devastated by Russia’s August 8 air and ground assault. The aid represents what Rice called “a down payment on our long-term commitment to ensure Georgia’s economic success continues.”
As many as 130,000 Georgians were forced from their homes by the fighting and subsequent attacks by Russian-backed paramilitaries, and are now sheltering in more than 600 refugee centers operating out of hospitals, schools and abandoned buildings in and around Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.
The U.S. military and the U.S. Agency for International Development have delivered nearly $30 million in humanitarian assistance to Georgia since the conflict began, Bush said, including more than 1,200 tons of food and other relief supplies.
Officials emphasized that the new aid package will not include any security assistance to help Georgia rebuild its military. “We are focusing on the most urgent needs, which first and foremost are addressing the humanitarian situation, sustaining confidence in the economy, restoring economic growth,” Bryza said.
The Bush administration will deliver the new aid package in two phases, Rice said. An initial $570 million will be given before President Bush leaves office, and an intensive outreach effort will be made to Congress — and to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama — to deliver the remaining $430 million under the next administration. Both contenders have expressed strong support for Georgia in recent weeks, and they have joined the international community in urging Russia to honor its cease-fire commitments.
“We envision a multiyear commitment which will begin now under President Bush and, we believe strongly, will endure in the next U.S. administration,” said Rice.
Another objective will be to bolster Georgia’s economy, which had shown strong growth before the crisis, thanks to a series of economic reforms instituted since the 2003 Rose Revolution, said Jeffery, who recently traveled to Georgia with a team of top U.S. economic officials to help authorities conduct a damage assessment.
“The country was invaded, and that's a significant shock to the economy,” said Jeffery. “Our objectives … are to help Georgia maintain and regain its economic momentum going forward.”
The longer-term elements of the new aid package will be channeled into existing support programs, Rice said, including an additional $150 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and $100 million to Georgia’s Millennium Challenge Corporation account, as well as additional funding under the Freedom Support Act, a 1992 law governing U.S. assistance to Russia and other former Soviet republics. Additional measures will promote new U.S. trade and investment opportunities in Georgia, she added.
The United States will bring its new aid package to the table at an upcoming EU-sponsored donors’ conference, Rice said, the latest show of support for Georgia from a wide range of international organizations, including NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund and even Russia’s own partners in both the G8 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“The United States, our friends and our allies are achieving our objectives. Georgian democracy and independence endure. The world has rallied to Georgia’s side in an unprecedented show of support,” Rice said. (See “United States Praises European Union Efforts on Georgian Crisis.”)
Vice President Dick Cheney, who is currently on a diplomatic mission in the region, will brief Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on the new U.S. aid package when they meet for private consultations September 4.
See the text of Bush’s statement.
For more information, see Crisis in Georgia.
