Iraq asks China to set up reconstruction fund

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/18/china-iraq-idUKL3E7II0EE20110718

(Reuters) - Iraq has asked China to set up a fund to help with the reconstruction of the war-battered country, an Iraqi government official said on Monday during a visit to Beijing by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh also said Baghdad was keen to get Chinese companies investing in the country, which is China's seventh largest supplier of oil last year.

The United States has spent $54 billion in relief and reconstruction efforts since the 2003 invasion, and it and the Iraqi government have spent billions more in Iraqi money, but ordinary people have seen little improvement.

The Iraqi government, which gets most of its $72 billion budget from oil revenues, says it is committed to improving basic services. But progress is painfully slow.