Mideast situation – GA general debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-fifth session

71st plenary meeting

Monday, 27 November 2000, 10 a.m.

New York

President:  Mr. Holkeri………………….(Finland)

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Agenda item 20 (continued)

Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance

(a) Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations

Reports of the Secretary-General (A/55/82, A/55/494, A/55/637)

Draft resolution (A/55/L.38)

(b) Special economic assistance to individual countries or regions

Reports of the Secretary-General (A/55/90, A/55/92, A/55/123, A/55/124, A/55/125, A/55/212, A/55/317, A/55/319, A/55/333, A/55/347, A/55/415, A/55/416, A/55/418, A/55/620)

Draft resolutions (A/55/L.16, A/55/L.35, A/55/L.36 and A/55/L.41)

(c) Assistance to the Palestinian people

Report of the Secretary-General (A/55/137)

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Mr. Khare (India): …

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I would now like to refer to the agenda item on assistance to the Palestinian people. India, despite its own limitations, has been contributing to the process of assistance to the Palestinian people through scholarships and cultural exchange programmes. India provided specialized training to 41 candidates from Palestine during the period April 1999 to March 2000, bringing to a total of 200 the number of Palestinians trained in India in the past four years. All expenditure on training costs, including boarding and lodging, is borne by the Government of India. India also pledged $1 million at the Washington donor’s conference in October 1995 and a further $1 million at the subsequent pledging conference in Paris in January 1996. These pledges have already been honoured through full disbursement. At the third donor’s conference, held in Washington on 30 November 1998, India pledged an additional $1 million in assistance to Palestine. Of this, a sum of $300,000 has already been disbursed to Al-Azhar University in Gaza for the construction of two additional floors for its library, with the remainder being utilized for human resource development activities.

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The meeting rose at 1 p.m.