The sum included 2.8 billion euros 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 told a news conference.

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, told reporters that his country was "deeply moved and humbled by the demonstration of solidarity that we have received."

The United States, pledging a billion dollars 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).

The aim had been to secure pledges of at least 3.25 billion dollars (2.38 billion euros) 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 euros 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 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 told AFP.

Japan pledged 200 million dollars (151 million euros) in aid over three years, while the International Monetary Fund has promised a 750 million euro financial package.

Germany's deputy foreign minister Gernot Elner announced 33.7 million euros while Sweden, according to a Japanese aide, pledged 40 million euros.

France offered seven million euros and Britain nine million pounds 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 7,600 Russian troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgia accuses Russia of effectively annexing the territories.

While Georgia has received heavy backing from the West, there was a further reminder Wednesday of opposition it faces in seeking to join NATO, with France's European affairs minister saying he was against Tbilisi's membership for now.

"I think that it is not the right time for membership for Georgia and Ukraine," Jean-Pierre Jouyet said on the sidelines of a European Parliament session in Strasbourg. "It is not in the interests of Europe or its relations with Russia."

The United States has pushed for NATO membership for Georgia as well as for Ukraine, both former Soviet republics.

Russia has made it clear it would regard NATO membership for Georgia or Ukraine as something close to a hostile action by the trans-Atlantic alliance.

France and Germany have opposed NATO membership for the two countries for the time being, not wanting to draw Russia's wrath.