(BRUSSELS) - International donors pledged 1.2 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) Friday to help build Kosovo's battered economy, surpassing their target, the European Commission announced.

"Pledges have been made today for 1.2 billion euros," said senior commission official Pierre Mirel. "The conference has been a great success."

The donors conference in Brussels had aimed to draw together one billion euros for use over the next three years, some five months after the former Serbian province -- one of Europe's poorest regions -- declared independence.

"This is an extraordinary success for the prospect of Kosovo as a safe, democratic and multi-ethnic state," said Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as the event wrapped up.

Thaci, whose region has been plagued by corruption -- a major concern for the donors -- pledged that his government would put the funds to good use.

"The government of Kosovo pledge to continue good governance," he said. "We will never disappoint you."

Kosovo with a majority ethnic Albanian population proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17. Belgrade, which still views the breakaway province as its medieval heartland, has rejected the move as illegal.

Along with the United States, more than 40 countries including all but seven of the EU's 27 member nations have recognised Kosovo's statehood, but others like Russia, China and Spain are refusing to follow suit.

Kosovo is one of the poorest parts of Europe with almost half its two million population living in poverty. Its unemployment rate is around 40 percent.

Donors have already contributed around 3.0 billion euros to Kosovo since its 1998-1999 war ended when a NATO bombing campaign ousted Serbian forces waging a brutal crackdown on Albanian separatists.

That was in addition to funding from the United Nations, which has pumped almost as much money into Kosovo to service its interim mission there, known as UNMIK, since the conflict.

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