The sum included €2.8 billion ($5.41 billion) of public funding to meet Georgia’s urgent post-conflict “and priority investment needs”.
The amount raised at the one-day conference “is more than we had thought and therefore I think it is a day of joy”, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
The meeting, attended by 67 nations and financial institutions, was co-hosted by the EU and the World Bank.
The pledged grants and loans, some of which had been made previously, beat most of the predictions amid a global financial crisis.
Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, who attended the conference, said that his country was “deeply moved and humbled by the demonstration of solidarity that we have received”.
The United States, pledging $US1 billion ($1.48 billion) over three years, was the biggest benefactor, followed by substantial donations from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and Japan.
“We share a commitment to Georgia’s territorial integrity, to its economic and democratic development, and to its integration with neighbouring countries and international institutions,” said Henrietta Fore, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“That so many diverse countries and organisations chose to attend today shows that Georgia has many friends who want it to succeed,” she said.
The aim had been to secure pledges of at least $US3.25 billion ($4.8 billion) in aid over the next three years, the sum which a “joint needs assessment” study deemed necessary to rebuild Georgia and boost its economic growth.
The funding will be used firstly for urgent social needs, including dealing with the 65,000 people displaced within Georgia by the conflict and repairing infrastructure.
Secondly there will be funding to deal with Georgia’s budgetary shortfall, for paying wages, pensions and other government services.
Donors also pledged funds to prop up Georgia’s commercial banks, through loans, equity and guarantees.
EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said the global community had a “moral imperative” to help conflict-hit Georgia, as he spoke of the commission’s pledge of €500 million ($966.56 million) over three years for reconstruction.
Behind the pledges of help, some delegates stressed the need to pull Georgia further towards full democracy and a fully-functioning market economy.
“We must not let the crisis distract Georgia from its political and economic reform efforts,” said Mr Barroso.
“We want to ask the Georgian government to put more efforts towards democratisation and to shift towards a market economy,” Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
Japan pledged $US200 million ($295.3 million) in aid over three years, while the International Monetary Fund has promised a €750 million ($1.45 billion) financial package.
Germany’s deputy foreign minister Gernot Elner announced €33.7 million ($65.15 million) while Sweden, according to a Japanese aide, pledged €40 million ($77.32 million).
France offered €7 million ($13.53 million) and Britain £9 million ($22.23 million) plus other support.
Russian troops and tanks rolled into Georgia on August 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists.
Russia has since withdrawn from most of Georgia in line with an EU-brokered ceasefire, but Tbilisi is furious at the continued presence of 7600 Russian troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia accuses Russia of effectively annexing the territories.
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