The European Commission, the acting arm of the European Union, will announce next week how much fund to offer for Iraq reconstruction, and the suggested figure is 200 million euros, EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said in Brussels Friday.

Udwin said the EU executive would give its decision next Wednesday on how much should come from the EU budget ahead of a donors conference due in Madrid on October 23-24, and that "the figure mentioned in that (EU) document is 200 million euros (US$228 million)."

She also said that EU member states would be making contributions to Iraq reconstruction on themselves, and that the goal of the donors conference was to find funds for the period till the end of 2004.

Udwin stressed the EU's emphasis was on investment projects rather than the day-to-day costs of running the shattered country.

In 2002, the EU paid to Afghanistan 280 million euros (US$319 million) from the community budget and additional donations from member states brought the figure up to 850 million euros (US$969 million), Udwin said.

Its total funding for Afghanistan has been set at one billion euros over five years, she added.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2003)