Int'l confce on innovative sources of financing ends in Paris
A two-day international ministerial conference on innovative sources of financing (ISF) for development ended in Paris Wednesday with a call for a need for such innovative mechanisms, says a French embassy press release issued on Thursday. The French government organised the conference on the basis of the declaration on innovative sources of financing for development adopted by the United Nations on September 14, 2005 and supported by Bangladesh and other 79 countries across the world. Health Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Finance Ministry Additional Secretary Abdul Majid attended the conference on behalf Bangladesh government. The conference put special emphasis on the need for innovative source of financing as it is feared that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will simply not be achieved in many countries at the present levels of the traditional aid flows. In order to generate the significant amounts needed to reach the MDGs, France, together with its partners, is trying to introduce automatic and reliable new sources of financing for development and for fighting against pandemics. For a start, France will introduce air-ticket contributions on July 1, 2006 on the basis of levies ranging from 1 euro to 40 euros, depending upon travel class and the destination. This is expected to generate revenue of up to 200 million euros per year from France alone.
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