The US President, Mr Barack Obama, has proposed a fund of nearly $800 million to boost political and economic reforms in Arab countries and help them to get back on track following a series of revolutions.
In its budgetary proposals sent to the Congress, the Obama Administration proposed $770 million for the new Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund to respond strategically to the historical changes taking place across the region.
The proposals is part of Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2013, which begins October 1.
“The fund will incentivise long-term economic, political and trade reforms — key pillars of stability — by supporting governments that demonstrate a commitment to undergo meaningful change and empower their people,” it said.
“The Middle East is reinventing itself before our eyes,” Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Mr Thomas Nides, told presspersons.
“Since I presented last year’s budget, there hasn’t been a day when we weren’t managing multiple crises at once.
The demands on us have never been higher, and you will see all of that in this budget request,” he said.
Overall, Mr Obama proposed $51.6 billion in funding for the US State Department and foreign aid.