The Czech Republic, Qatar, Slovakia and Bulgaria made payments to the Benghazi International Fund, Libyan prime minister Baghdadi Mahmudi said.

France promised to provide equipment and qualified personnel for a period of five years, for the training of Libyan medics, he said as quoted by Reuters.

The fund received 600 million Libyan dinars from abroad. The sum was paid into the fund as a loan and is to be repaid when the money is collected from donors, Reuters said.

The Czech Republic denied Libya’s statement that it granted money to the fund, Focus news agency said.

Bulgaria said that it was still to decide what contribution it would make to the fund.

Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev as saying that Bulgaria was among the founders of the fund and had promised to make a contribution to it at the time that the fund was established.

According to Tsanchev, Bulgaria promised technical assistance to equip and modernise the hospital in Benghazi, where the children had been infected. It also undertook to improve conditions for their treatment and to help Libya in the fight against AIDS.

Tsanchev also recalled that Bulgaria’s position, confirmed by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin, was that the country could write off the Libyan debt to Bulgaria, which exceeds $50 million.