,. - GERMANY: Kohl set to intensify aid to Eastern Europe UNITED NATIONS

BONN, Nov 20 (IPS) - Germany's new government led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl plans to intensify development cooperation with the needy countries of central and eastern Europe, according to an official policy document newly published here.

However, the number of Third World nations given bilateral aid will be reduced by 11 to 57 which will together get 3.935 billion marks (2.49 billion dollars) next year -- in absolute terms an up on 3.910 billion marks allocated in 1994 but a marginal decline on 1993.

Independent analysts said that an overhaul of Bonn's aid policy in the coming years -- as demanded by some 20 leading development experts belonging to governmental, para-statal and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in a memorandum four weeks ago -- was not on the cards.

The reform, experts said in a memorandum forwarded to Kohl and other ruling and opposition parties' leaders, should be underlined by Bonn spending in the year 2000, some 0.7 percent of its Gross National Product (GNP) on official development assistance (ODA).

Germany's commitment to the United Nations target was reiterated by Chancellor Kohl at the Earth Summit in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

Kohl was elected this week for the fifth time as Chancellor by the federal parliament, Bundestag, by a razor thin majority, bagging 338 out of 671 votes cast.

This vote reflected the slim majority with which the coalition government of Kohl's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) emerged out of the Oct. 16 general election.

After protracted negotiations, the coalition partners agreed on a 49-page document which lays down the broad contours of action expected of the new government on manifold aspects of domestic and foreign policy.

"The world political upheavals, Germany's increased international responsibility and growing global problems are confronting the German development policy with new demands," says the document made available to IPS Wednesday.

One of these demands, the paper said, was that the number of countries requiring assistance had increased.

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