Iraq to Meet Donors in Hope of Creating New Aid Momentum--Daily Star

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
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2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, July 18, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=16832



IRAQ TO MEET DONORS IN HOPE OF CREATING NEW AID MOMENTUM

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

AMMAN: Iraq and donor countries will meet in Jordan next week in hope of creating new momentum to rebuild the violence-ravaged country, which some say faces a make-or-break situation to guarantee its political transition.

(snip)


For UN deputy special representative to Iraq Staffan de Mistura, the next six months are crucial for Iraq, which is drawing up a constitution that will be put to a national referendum ahead of elections in October. He compared Iraq to a patient who needs stabilization through external aid as well as internal efforts crowned by a constitution.



"We can do all sort of water projects, education projects, but if we don't have the constitution ... we may have a disruption of the social, economic and political stability of Iraq by far worse than what we have seen in the past," he said.

(snip)

International donors set up IRFFI at an October 2003 conference in Madrid, six months after major combat ended in the U.S.-led war on Iraq. At that meeting, countries pledged $33 billion in aid for 2004-2007.


A total of $1 billion has been committed and divided evenly in two trust funds, administered separately by the World Bank and the United Nations.


(snip)


Iraq needs the meeting to consolidate credibility and legitimacy for its nascent transitional government, formed in April, three months after the country's first free legislative elections in more than 50 years.