15 December East Timor will need up to $300 million over the next three years to rebuild itself, according to the estimates released by the World Bank on the eve of a fundraising conference in Tokyo aimed to raise funds for the battered territory.
The World Bank says that East Timor will need $86 million in immediate humanitarian assistance and emergency relief and $76 million for reconstruction and development. Another $15 million will be required for external financing of the budget for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which is overseeing the territory's move to independence.
More than 100 officials from 29 countries are expected to attend the two-day donor meeting, which begins tomorrow and is co-hosted by the UN and the World Bank.
On Friday, the head of UNTAET, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao are scheduled to deliver statements to the conference on behalf of the UN-East Timor delegation.
