| With Iraq gripped by deepening sectarian chaos,
top Iraqi officials came here Sunday to plead for
economic and political support from the world's
richest countries and international organizations.
Iraqi leaders including Deputy Prime Minister
Barham Saleh said international backing was critical
for nothing short of the survival of the Iraqi
state. Saleh said the security of Iraq and the
Middle East depends on reconciling differences
between Iraq's warring groups and funding economic
reforms meant to integrate Baghdad into the global
economy.
"I don't underestimate the gravity of the
situation in Iraq," Saleh told reporters
at the International Compact for Iraq conference,
sponsored by the United Nations and U.S. and held
in Abu Dhabi. "We are in a critical situation."
"This is a pledge on our part to take action
on the economic and political situations,"
he continued. "This is also in the interest
of the security of the region at large."
The one-day gathering at the opulent Emirates
Palace hotel in the Emirates capital brought together
officials from the U.S., Europe, Japan, Korea
and Iraq's Arab neighbors along with the U.N.,
World Bank
and International Monetary Fund. The Compact is
a five-year plan to bring peace and development
to Iraq, while ensuring the government has the
funds to survive.
"The bargain being struck here is economic
reform by Iraq in return for financial support,"
said U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt,
President George W. Bush's special envoy on the
talks. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad
also attended the meeting.
Participants said the gathering was being held
in the Emirates — hundreds of miles from
Iraq — because Iraq was too unsafe. Potential
donors were looking for assurance from Iraqis
that foreign investments in Iraq would not be
squandered in the face of relentless unrest that
threatens to topple the fledgling government and
break up the country.
Speakers seemed unsure whether well-targeted
international aid could wrest Iraq from its spiraling
chaos, or even that the country could survive.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch-Brown
said huge efforts at creating democratic institutions
appeared to be having little effect on deepening
strife.
"We've had a constitution, elections and
a democratic government in place and still there's
a rising tide of sectarian violence," Malloch-Brown
said. But he added later that donors' support
was not conditional.
"Our support for this government and for
Iraq is not based on the certainty that it will
prevail," Malloch-Brown said. "For ordinary
Iraqis there is a crisis of confidence in their
futures. We must support the Iraqi government
in embarking on a process of radical reform."
Daniel Weygandt, economic counselor at the US
embassy in Baghdad, said Iraq needed to make clear
to potential donors that it was willing to tackle
tough reforms in return for urgent aid. But Weygandt
said backing for Iraq was still valuable now,
no matter what the future holds.
"Whoever gets the upper hand in Iraq would
prefer to get the upper hand in a country that
is prosperous," Weygandt said. "The
question is to what extent is the international
community willing to invest
in Iraq."
The most urgent reforms sought by the international
donors are a hydrocarbons law that would outline
ownership and foreign investment in Iraq's oil
reserves and a reduction of government's subsidies.
Sunday's Abu Dhabi meeting was in preparation
for higher-level Sept. 18th summits in New York
and Singapore.
Iraq still awaits aid promised three years ago.
A donor's conference for Iraq held in Madrid
in 2003 raised pledges for $13.5 billion (euro10.6
billion) but so far only $3.5 billion (euro2.8
billion) has made its way to Iraq.
The remaining $10 billion is being held up by
a lack of viable projects or by fears that aid
will be siphoned away in Iraq's corrupt contracting
environment, Kimmitt said in an interview.
"I've talked to everyone who pledged in
Madrid. They're all good for their pledges,"
Kimmitt said. "They're just having problems
dispersing them."
Even after the remaining $10 billion (euro800
million) is sent, Kimmitt said Iraq will still
need donor funds through 2012 to rebuild its economy. |
