Note: This document may not always reflect the actual appropriations determined by Congress. Final budget allocations for USAID's programs are not determined until after passage of an appropriations bill and preparation of the Operating Year Budget (OYB). 

ASIA AND NEAR EAST

FY 1998 Sustainable Development Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $310,000,000
FY 1998 Economic Support Fund Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,264,000,000
FY 1998 P.L. 480 Title II Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $104,522,000

INTRODUCTION

U.S. interest in the Asia and Near East (ANE) region ranks among the top in the world due to the importance of promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and strengthening the development of countries in the Asia region, which is the fastest growing U.S. export market. For the United States, the ANE region poses great development challenges, but it can also yield substantial benefits. USAID's assistance program is a carefully targeted effort that focuses on measurable results and sustained benefits to enhance the interests of the United States.

U.S. NATIONAL INTERESTS

Securing Peace and Enhancing Trade

Two of the highest foreign policy priorities in the ANE region are promoting a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and strengthening trade and cooperation with Asia, the most dynamic and fastest-growing region in the world. In the Middle East, while the peace process requires U.S. leadership in the political arena, USAID plays a critical role in building regional stability and cooperation through economic growth. The equivalent of two million U.S. workers earn a living producing goods that are exported to the Asia region. As a group, Asia's developing countries constitute the fastest growing regional market for U.S. merchandise exports, expanding at over 15% per year. It is anticipated that U.S. trade with Asia will continue to expand dramatically, along with the number of U.S. jobs. However, continuing civil strife and human rights concerns in the ANE region could potentially undermine political and economic progress. Plus, the ANE region suffers from a variety of global problems -- such as endemic poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and rapid population growth -- that affect economic and democratic progress. USAID's program of assistance to the ANE region responds to these challenges with specialized and timely assistance that emphasizes impact and sustained benefits.

The U.S. Development Challenge

The goal of broadly shared economic growth underpins all USAID efforts in the ANE region. Such growth is essential if USAID partners are to sustain their development successes and increase their capacity to finance continued progress. USAID programs in ANE help create a favorable climate for sustainable development and greater interdependence in the region. Progress towards sustainable development minimizes debilitating domestic and regional conflicts and creates opportunities for private sector linkages with the U.S. economy.

 The ANE region has some of the poorest countries in the world, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Nepal. The populations of USAID-assisted countries in the ANE region, which total two billion people, contain the vast majority of the world's poor (see Figure 1). Over 600 million people living below the World Bank's poverty line reside in the ANE region. If left unchecked, the sheer magnitude of poverty in the region alone could cripple political systems and economic infrastructure, induce mass migration and further damage the environment.

The region's enormous political diversity also influences USAID's assistance programs. There are long-standing democracies (India, Sri Lanka and Israel), nascent democracies (Bangladesh, Nepal and Mongolia), and others that are beginning to grapple with the participatory aspirations of their peoples (Indonesia and Egypt). Political systems are changing throughout the ANE region. In Morocco and Jordan, monarchies are liberalizing. In Cambodia and Mongolia, democratic transitions are emerging. And in the West Bank and Gaza, government branches are evolving. Within this range of political systems, USAID promotes pluralism in societies, transparency and accountability in governments and private institutions, and respect of universal human rights and rule of law.

Achieving Sustainability Through Effective Donor Coordination and Leveraging

Despite declining resources, USAID continues to provide leadership in the region through closer coordination with other donors and targeting of technical assistance. Good examples of recent donor coordination include shared funding of human immunodeficiency and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) interventions in Indonesia and the Philippines under the Japan-USA Common Agenda, and joint funding of contraceptives with the World Bank in Bangladesh. Increasingly, USAID is pursuing joint formulation and evaluation missions with other donors and development partners to enhance ownership and to leverage funding.

USAID technical assistance that is leveraged with the resources of other partners achieves a greater impact than USAID could achieve acting alone. USAID's Integrated Pest Management program in Indonesia now serves as a model for replication throughout the world. Funding in Indonesia has now been picked up by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank, and they are supporting similar programs in other countries. In India, USAID's technical support to the Power Finance Corporation, state electricity boards and private power companies has helped leverage millions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It has also opened the way for large U.S. private investments in power generation, by improving the policy and institutional environment for investment in the private sector. USAID's approach to improving the efficiency of water resources in irrigation in one area of Morocco is being replicated in nine additional areas under a $365 million World Bank loan.

ACHIEVING RESULTS

The ANE program supports five key priorities:

Progress in Securing Peace in the Middle East

The United States provides global leadership to the Middle East peace process, and USAID is making significant contributions. The U.S.-Egyptian Partnership for Economic Growth and Development, launched by Vice President Gore and Egypt's President Mubarak in September 1994, is targeting economic growth and job creation in Egypt, as well as economic and commercial ties with the United States. USAID's leadership has focused the combined efforts of the U.S. Government and the private sector to promote increased export-oriented economic growth and help Egypt emerge as an economic base for regional trade. The success of the November 1996 Cairo Economic Conference is testimony to the growing economic linkages between Israel, its Arab neighbors and the United States.

 USAID supported the January 1996 elections in the West Bank and Gaza. In this history-making event, the Palestinians elected their first democratically chosen self-governing authority. USAID also provided budgetary support, through the multi-donor fund, to maintain health and education services and to facilitate the transition of key social services to the Palestinians. USAID also helped: create jobs through loans to small businesses; facilitate the development of industrial zones; upgrade water systems in Rafah, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and 21 West Bank villages; lay the groundwork for potable water systems that serve 270,000 Palestinians; and reduce sewage flooding in Gaza City.

Progress in Strengthening Trade and Technology Linkages

The thriving investment climate in the region is buttressed by selective USAID assistance. Five ANE countries receiving USAID assistance -- Indonesia, Philippines, India, Israel and Egypt -- purchased $3 billion or more of U.S. goods in 1995 (see Figure 2). These countries also received $1.6 billion in U.S. foreign direct investment in 1995, and U.S. investors received $2.8 billion in earnings on past investment. USAID plays an important catalytic role in this dynamic region by supporting key sectoral

reforms and investments that increase incomes and create a growing demand for U.S. exports of all kinds, including agricultural products, and environmental, telecommunications and energy technologies.

Most ANE countries have been lowering both tariffs and non-tariff barriers to imports, many with USAID assistance. For example, USAID provided assistance to Indonesia and the Philippines, two key members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, for the liberalization of trade and investment policies. APEC is the major forum for U.S. Government efforts to reform the trade and investment policies of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This USAID assistance, complementing that of other donors and the two governments' own resolve, supported the analysis and adoption of trade reform packages in Indonesia and the Philippines. These reforms reduced the average tariff rates from 20% to 15% and committed both countries to a preannounced schedule of tariff reduction. These changes will reduce most tariffs to about 5% by 2004. Nevertheless, comparative tariff rates and import policy indicators demonstrate that these and other USAID-assisted countries in the ANE region still have more protectionist trade policies than do USAID countries in other rapidly developing regions. Therefore, considerable benefit for ANE countries and for U.S. exporters can be achieved by continued USAID efforts to liberalize trade regimes in ANE countries.

 USAID assistance for the reform of key sectoral policies also spurs growth of incomes and jobs at the same time that it increases trade and technology links with the United States. In Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and the Philippines, USAID supports the development of capital markets to mobilize foreign and domestic capital and to improve the efficiency of allocation. More financial resources are being channelled to the private sector. For example, funds raised on the capital markets of India, Indonesia and the Philippines doubled from 1993 to 1995, from about $5.5 billion to almost $11 billion. In India, USAID was instrumental in establishing the automated National Stock Exchange, which has become the country's largest exchange. Mobilizing capital for investment also creates jobs. Firms on the Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka created over 4,500 new jobs in 1995, for a total of 29,000 jobs since 1990 when USAID assistance began. Overall, 17% of all the jobs created in Sri Lanka's formal sector in the past year can be linked to USAID assistance. In Indonesia, USAID's technical inputs to strengthen capital markets and develop procedures for privatization have resulted in the partial privatization of Indonesia's major telephone and international telecommunications firms, with shares sold on both the Jakarta and New York stock exchanges. And U.S. merchandise exports to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines have been increasing by 14%-16% per year.

 In areas with persistent pockets of poverty, USAID supports investments in microenterprise credit, agriculture and agribusiness, and rural infrastructure. These investments are designed to reduce poverty and build a sound foundation for the long-term development of future U.S. export markets. USAID micro-finance programs in ANE are among the most successful in terms of scale, profit and targeting of the poor. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Egypt, among other ANE countries, have vibrant and successful microenterprise credit programs. Since 1992, USAID support in Bangladesh has helped generate more than 70,000 jobs and increase the incomes of almost 30,000 poor women; and USAID's microenterprise program in Egypt, which has provided small loans to over 42,000 small and microenterprises since its inception in 1989, has been replicated by other donors. Also, a USAID-supported rural electrification program in Bangladesh installed 44,000 irrigation pumps and established 160,000 small rural businesses. USAID investments in infrastructure and improved agribusiness systems in Mindanao, one of the poorest regions in the Philippines, have increased family incomes in southern Mindanao by twice the national average, and were credited with helping to bring an end to the 25-year insurgency. Bangladesh, heavily dependent on food aid prior to 1992, never commercially imported significant amounts of grain. However, USAID-supported privatization of the grain trade and the fertilizer sector, coupled with expanded irrigation, has enabled Bangladesh to become largely self-sufficient in rice and has made it profitable for Bangladeshi grain traders to buy $115 million of U.S. wheat over the past three years.

Progress in Addressing Global Issues: Population, Health and Environmental Problems

USAID encourages an integrated approach to working on global problems, involving linkages among sectors and development partners. Therefore, in dealing with population and health issues, USAID supports mechanisms that facilitate investments in education, family planning, health and nutrition. The success USAID had in reducing population growth directly reduces pressures on the environment. Likewise, many USAID programs link environmental management with economic growth, health and democracy initiatives.

Impressive gains have been made in reducing total fertility rates in ANE countries, which represent some of the most populous countries of the world. USAID investments over the past decades have improved delivery of family planning services in ANE countries, offering couples a wider range of contraceptive methods and providers of services, empowered couples to make informed and safer decisions regarding their family size, and convinced governments of the importance of meeting needs for family planning and reproductive health services. The proportion of couples using safe modern contraceptives has steadily increased in USAID-assisted countries, particularly in Egypt (46%), Morocco (36%), Indonesia (52%) and Bangladesh (36%). Couples are increasingly seeking contraceptives from the private sector, including physicians and pharmacies. USAID investments to engage the private sector and utilize social marketing strategies have been successful in increasing the private sector's share of the reproductive health market. For example, 68% of married couples using contraceptives in Egypt currently seek them from private sector sources.
USAID's child survival program has been vital in preventing childhood deaths and illness globally. Today, nearly 80% of infants are vaccinated with three doses of diptheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) by their first birthday, compared with 44% 10 years ago. Millions of children have been saved from dying from acute respiratory infections, tetanus, measles and other preventable childhood diseases. In the ANE region, infant and child mortality and morbidity rates are continuing to decline sharply as a result of sustained child survival initiatives. For example, in Cambodia, vitamin A is being provided yearly to 85%-90% of children in targeted areas, averting about 13,000 deaths per year and decreasing night blindness by 50%. In the Philippines and Egypt, 72% and 79%, respectively, of all children are fully vaccinated against six childhood diseases before they are two years old. 

Women's health is being given greater emphasis in the region. Goals have been set lowering maternal mortality and morbidity rates, which are alarmingly high in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh with estimated rates of over 500 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 1994 Cairo Population and Development Conference was catalytic in increasing awareness and the need for action among governments and donors to improve women's health, along with reducing fertility and improving child health. In most ANE countries, the majority of deliveries still occur at home, with significant numbers of women at high risk of death or debilitating illness from giving birth because of their young age, poor health or lack of medical support. Examples of interventions that have proved successful in alleviating these problems include: in the Philippines, 80% of pregnant women receive antenatal care from a health professional and more than 50% of births are attended by a doctor, nurse or midwife; in Bangladesh, younger women are not only having fewer children (average is 3.4), they are also spacing their births less closely; in Nepal, an inexpensive home delivery kit, developed with USAID help, is now being used in 20% of all home deliveries.
NEPAL AND CHILD SURVIVAL: THE JUMLA TIMER

Acute respiratory infections, especially pneumonia, kill the largest number of young children in developing countries. In Jumla, a remote district, pneumonia was the leading cause of death among infants. On average, death occurred within 3-1/2 days of the first symptoms, stressing the importance of early diagnosis. USAID developed a simple prototype device, the “Jumla timer,” which beeped every 30 seconds so that health workers can correctly measure a sick child's breathing. Mothers were taught how to treat children with a low-cost syrup antibiotic. This intervention was able to reduce the number of children's deaths by 28%. World Health Organization and United Nations Children Fund have adopted the Jumla timer for mass production and worldwide use. 



More than 50% of the world's new HIV/AIDS infections occur in Asia. Back in 1995, Asia overtook Africa as the global epicenter of the AIDS pandemic (see Fig. 4), with over 2.5 million new HIV infections. India alone is expected to have 10 million cumulative infections by the year 2000. Epidemiological surveillance remains inadequate in Asia, especially in those countries where governments have not yet recognized and addressed the seriousness of the rapid spread of HIV. USAID has responded through bilateral agreements and a major regional program that focus on increasing access to and use of condoms, improving knowledge and practice of HIV and other sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk-reduction behavior, promoting better STI case management, addressing cross-border transmission, and assistance to involved organizations in countries where USAID does not have a field mission. A 1996 evaluation of the regional effort found that the interventions were critical in facilitating the start-up of HIV/AIDS prevention programs in countries like Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal. In Thailand and the Philippines, major government commitment to and programs for HIV/AIDS prevention have resulted in declining numbers of new HIV cases.

 

The ANE region faces a variety of environmental challenges that imperil the sustainability of its rapid economic and social development. These challenges include: deforestation; depletion and degradation of coastal and marine resources and biodiversity; a shortage of clean energy sources; global climate change; industrial pollution; and a shortage of urban infrastructure. USAID programs in these areas focus on developing solutions that yield economic, public health, environmental and democratic benefits.

 USAID and its partners have spearheaded a new approach to forest, coastal resources and biodiversity conservation, by promoting decentralized, community-based, natural resources management. This approach aims at linking income generation and public input into decision making to the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. With USAID leadership, precedent-setting new laws and policies to promote this approach have been adopted in the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal and India. Forest areas under community management have increased in the Philippines from 19,600 to 69,000 hectares in 1996, plus an additional 148,000 hectares are now protected under indigenous community resource rights agreements. In Indonesia, USAID helped establish a new park to protect one of the world's premier coral reefs with the cooperation of the local community, which is allowed to continue to live inside the park and share in its benefits. USAID's assistance is now expanding to community management of the coastal areas outside of parks.

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HOW BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION CAN BE SUSTAINABLE

The USAID-funded Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN) has initiated 11 demonstration projections in 7 Asian-Pacific countries to test the effectiveness of some innovative, on-the-ground projects that integrate conservation with social and economic development. BCN helps small businesses develop products from natural resources (e.g., resins, oils, medicinal compounds, nuts), using techniques that conserve the long-term sustainability of the natural eco-systems, so that these community businesses have an economic interest in continued sustainable management of the resources. The sites encompass 2.2 million hectares, with over 200,000 residents and 26 commercial enterprises that already employ 5,600 people. The BCN will provide information to policy makers, the donor community, and environmental and development organizations about the conditions under which these enterprise-based approaches can contribute to biodiversity conservation. 

To reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, USAID works to enhance efficiency in energy production and use and to develop cleaner and renewable energy sources. (USAID programs to improve forest management also serve to prevent greenhouse gases from being released.) Two of the top 10 greenhouse gas emitting countries in the world are within the ANE region (Figure 5). USAID assistance led to the construction of India's first private coal-washing facility. In the Philippines, USAID assistance is accelerating the development of offshore natural gas deposits, which will release half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned. In Indonesia, USAID is revising regulations to facilitate the adoption of clean renewable energy.

 In the past year, the Philippines was added to the list of countries testing incentive systems for industrial pollution reduction. Voluntary factory pollution audit programs in the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Jordan and Morocco have proven that they can make companies more profitable while polluting less. Also, new approaches are being developed to move this from the "retail" testing level to a broader, "wholesale" scale.

In Egypt, the construction of sewage treatment plants continues, bringing service to millions more people. Seven provinces in Egypt now have authorized their water and wastewater utilities to become financially independent from the government, which will make them more sustainable and improve services. In Asia, the privatization of finance mechanisms for urban infrastructure (drinking water and wastewater treatment), pioneered in the Philippines, is being replicated in other countries such as Indonesia and India.
  Water resource management is so vital that it often becomes political, destabilizing whole regions (e.g., the Middle East, potentially Indochina). USAID continues to promote the judicious use of water to reduce or prevent conflicts. Approaches used in the past to improve irrigation efficiency in Egypt and Nepal are now being replicated in Jordan and Morocco, by USAID as well as other donors such as the World Bank. Also, USAID has just begun a new initiative to resolve water conflicts in the Middle East.
Progress in Strengthening Democratic Participation and Governance

 Due to the tremendous political diversity among the countries in the ANE region, USAID provides important assistance to the peaceful transition to and consolidation of democratic states and societies. USAID also assists more developed democracies to strengthen decentralization and participation at the local level, and promotes the economic and social empowerment of women.

 In Mongolia, USAID support for a multi-party system helped produce national elections that signaled a dramatic advance in the country's transition to democracy. A coalition of reform-minded, pro-democracy parties replaced -- by a large majority -- the party that had held power for 75 years. In addition, six of the seven women elected to Parliament have been trained through a USAID grant. Also, USAID work with civil society has greatly increased the number and capacity of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in public policy advocacy and the monitoring of Parliament.

 In Bangladesh, USAID assistance in voter awareness and registration helped prepare for fair and inclusive parliamentary elections in July 1996, which introduced a new government and ended the prolonged crisis. Voter turnout was over 70%, with 77% of women voting. USAID support for the Fair Election Monitoring Alliance of 184 local NGOs served to develop a local electoral observation capacity. At the local level, USAID piloted an alternate dispute resolution program that mediated 400 cases in 15 communities, and legal services reached 11,500 women.

 The USAID program in Cambodia has focused on rebuilding the legal system devastated by genocide, civil war and foreign occupation. USAID assistance helped reform commercial and penal codes, develop a system of legal aid for the poor, and strengthen human rights groups. Also, USAID is helping Cambodia develop a code for communal elections to ensure a fair and competitive electoral process.

 USAID programs continue to support rule of law and encourage democratic transitions in Indonesia. In 1995, USAID-supported NGOs pushed for reforms in such areas as labor regulation, alternative dispute resolution, environmental conservation and government adherence to Indonesian law and international human rights standards. A draft presidential decree to limit NGO autonomy was blocked by concerted NGO action. Since the July 1996 unrest, and despite a tougher government response to dissent, NGOs have continued to press for reforms. USAID has responded by programming nearly

80% of its planned FY 1996 obligations in Indonesia toward advocacy, human rights, rule of law and civil society.

 In the Philippines, where previous USAID assistance laid the foundation for a strong civil society, the mushrooming of people's organizations and community associations now provides the constituency base for policy and legislative reforms. USAID is continuing assistance to the government's path-breaking effort to devolve political power and resources to the localities. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill was passed in 1995, partly through the advocacy of two USAID-funded NGOs.

 Progress in Reducing Gender Disparities

 The ANE region has the widest gender gap in the world. While women in all other regions of the world outlive men, life expectancy for women in South Asia is equal to or lower than men's life expectancy. Sixty-four percent of the women in South Asia are illiterate, compared to 35% of the men. Plus, over 50% of the women in North Africa and the Middle East are illiterate, compared to 28% of the men.

 Education, literacy and women's empowerment are increasingly recognized as essential to reduce fertility and infant mortality, increase women's participation in the economy, increase efficient use of natural resources, and expand democracy. In Egypt, India and Morocco, USAID is initiating girls' education programs to redress widespread disparities, especially in rural areas. Studies of women's earning in Morocco concluded that a single additional year of schooling for a Moroccan woman would result in a 16% increase in yearly earnings. In Nepal, USAID-funded literacy programs have already increased the number of literate women from 22% in 1991 to 28% in 1995.

In Nepal, NGOs supported by USAID helped overturn the inheritance law that did not allow women to inherit property. In India, as a result of women's outcries following the Beijing Conference, USAID has begun activities aimed at reducing violence against women. In the Philippines, trade policies that increase exports and agribusiness production have helped raise the income of 2,050 women weavers by 30%. In Bangladesh, rural household income increased in 36,500 homes as a result of the Women's Enterprise Development Program. In addition, over three million eligible women voters were given basic voter education, using existing family planning networks to reach grass-roots women.

 USAID's Women in Politics (WIP) program supports the political empowerment of women through a regional network and country-specific programs. The network has held regional workshops for developing strategies for putting gender issues on the national policy agenda and created a cross-cultural curriculum for training women political leaders. Interventions under this program were responsible for the creation of a coalition of women's NGOs for the election of women parliamentarians in Mongolia and for the high female voter turnout in Bangladesh. Of the 289 women who ran in Mongolia, two-thirds had received training and 109 were elected, increasing the share of female office-holders in these provinces from 1% to 14%. Also, through the WIP program, a regional dialogue was convened in Nepal in August 1996 to combat trafficking of women and the spread of HIV/AIDS. For its success in increasing the involvement of women in the political and judicial processes in the ANE region, the WIP program has been adopted as a worldwide Agency model.

PROGRAM AND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Through support for policy and institutional reform, population and health service delivery, democratic governance, and environmental management, USAID programs promote the four areas that have the greatest impact on sustainable development in the region. The best examples of development success in the region are countries with outward-looking economies, expanding trade, increased participation by both men and women in the market place, better access to government and public policy institutions, increased investments in the quantity and quality of social services (especially health and education), and higher environmental quality standards. These countries are more likely to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve regional conflicts and manage internal strife. In the face of declining resources, USAID's challenge is to maintain the provision of quality technical assistance and ideas -- the very aspects of the U.S. development assistance relationship most valued by the host countries and USAID partners. The provision of technical expertise and ideas is also the very means by which USAID advances U.S. foreign policy priorities.

Resource Allocations

Resource allocations in the ANE region are based on a combination of the following factors: U.S. national foreign policy interests, performance of ANE country economies and USAID programs, potential markets for U.S. exports, and ANE country contributions to global problems such as population growth, carbon dioxide emissions and HIV/AIDS infection.

 An important resource in the ANE region is the Economic Support Fund (ESF). In addition to the support for Israel and Egypt, ESF is used to assist the democratic transitions underway in Cambodia and Mongolia, programs in Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, regional activities linked to the Middle East peace process, and the resolution of differences over access to South Pacific tuna fisheries for U.S. vessels.

Graduation and Sustainability

A focus on graduation and sustainability is central to ANE program management. As sectors in USAID-assisted countries reach a level of performance that appears to be sustainable by indigenous public and private institutions, USAID initiates steps to determine the country's capacity and readiness to graduate from U.S. assistance. Such steps are based on a number of factors, including the maturity of host-country systems to produce policies, products, services and information that are sufficiently well-valued by the population so that enough national resources are committed to ensure their continuation.

 USAID has further promoted sustainability by making it the focus of those ANE programs that have graduation strategies, such as population and health in Indonesia and Morocco, and economic growth in Indonesia. USAID's approach to graduation and sustainability in ANE follows four elements: clearly stated development results to be achieved; narrowed and refined objectives; a clear definition of sustainability; and a focus on new modalities of assistance.

External Debt

The ANE region is relatively less encumbered by debt than other regions, although it varies considerably by country and sub-region. In assessing the burden of external debt, comparisons are often made with the level of exports. In East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa sub-regions the net present value of future debt service is roughly 92% of the region's exports, significantly lower than Eastern Europe (128%), sub-Saharan Africa (151%) and Latin America (228%). By contrast, the ratio for the South Asian sub-region is much higher at 206% of exports. The most heavily indebted ANE countries relative to the size of their economies are Jordan and Vietnam. The United States forgave approximately $660 million of Jordanian debt in two tranches during 1994-95, with only a small amount of U.S. debt remaining.

FY 1998 PROGRAM

The total development assistance request for Asia and the Near East is $310,000,000. Economic growth activities account for $52,500,000, or 16.9%, of the total. About $61,500,000, or 19.8% will be invested in child survival interventions, girls' primary education, a highly focused HIV/AIDS program, and related health activities. Population and related health activities will continue to be the biggest global investment at $165,700,000, or 53.4%. Funding will emphasize institutional and financial sustainability, particularly for mature programs, and transition planning in some sectors for two of the most successful countries. Environment programs account for $69,100,000 (22.3%) and support activities that would prevent further environmental degradation. USAID democracy and governance activities, which focus on strengthening local institutions and organizations, total $22,700,000 (7.3%) .

 Economic Support Funds, requested at $2,264,000,000, are for the most part directly linked to the Middle East peace process and will support development activities in West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. In addition, a smaller amount is targeted at two countries in transition, Cambodia and Mongolia, and for U.S. treaty undertakings for access to South Pacific tuna fisheries.

 P.L. 480 Title II food aid, totaling $104,522,000 is proposed $4,880,000 for Afghanistan, $19,520,000 for Bangladesh and $80,122,000 for India.

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