13 Dec 2006

Tongan government discusses post-riot recovery with donors

6:05 pm on 13 December 2006

The Tongan government is having meetings with international donors this week to focus on the recovery of businesses after the riots last month.

The damage to businesses and to the infrastructure from the riot has been put at more than 200 million US dollars.

Representatives from AusAid, NZAid, the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation are in Tonga for various meetings.

The Tongan director for planning, Dr Caroline Tupoulahi, says they are in the midst of discussions.

"At this stage the mission's programme has yet to be completed. I do anticipate tomorrow's wrap up meeting of the mission to come up with some options. At this stage there have been recurring themes throughout the sessions held by the multi-donor team. Today, they are to meet with the minister of finance to look at the proposed reconstruction facility and to obtain some feedback on the current position of government."

Dr Caroline Tupoulahi says international donors want to focus on small business recovery.