1971-10-27
Page: 8
PARIS, Oct. 26—Thirteen nations and five international organizations agreed here today to a worldwide effort to meet the cost of the growing refugee problem in India.
The expenditure needed to care for the East Pakistanis who have fled into India was put at $700‐million until the end of next March, the end of the Indian fiscal year. It was agreed that such costs were creating an intolerable burden on India.
The delegates meeting here at the European headquarters of the World Bank are involved financially in India's development. Reports given by Dr. I. G. Patel of the Indian Ministry of Finance, by Charles Mace, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, and by World Bank officials, put the number of refugees at more than 9.5 million.
Representatives of Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States attended the meeting with delegates from India, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund, the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.