Baghdad airs hopes for aid

BAGHDAD, Jan 24, (KUNA): Iraqi Vice-President Nouri AlMaliki has expressed the hope that the planned Iraqi reconstruction conference will yield tangible outcomes namely accords on enterprises of delayed payment.

The Vice-President, during a meeting with a Kuwaiti media delegation on Tuesday, hoped that action during the conference would not be restricted to raising donations for Iraq. Instead, he wished it would witness accords on rebuilding bridges, hospitals, factories and other sectors with delayed payment or cash according to specific timetable.

Executing projects in Iraq and making bills with government guarantees is better than giving financial grants to the nation, he said, also pointing out that his proposed mechanism would be useful for the investors and helpful for speeding up Iraq’s reconstruction.

Iraq is a wealthy country and oil prices have been improving

gradually, thus it will be able to pay the debts to the creditors, he has added.

Al-Maliki indicated that he had previously proposed this mechanism for reconstruction and that value of late-payment enterprises had been estimated at $77 billion, to be paid in installments in 10 years.

Citing a concrete successful example, he says that Japan has offered $780 million to Iraq through ventures, which it has been executing, with pledges Baghdad pays the costs later.

He praised His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for hosting the international convention for rebuilding Iraq hoping that this effort would contribute to cementing the ties between the two brotherly peoples at various levels.

The conference success is necessary because this means undermining plots by the so-called Islamic State, al-Qaeda and sectarianism advocates.

Vice-President Al-Maliki lauded His Highness the Amir for his efforts to resolve crises and problems between the two countries. “We are seeking to close all doors leading to discords and elevating the bilateral relations through mutual visits,” he said.

The Kuwaiti delegation includes Secretary of the Kuwaiti Journalists Association Adnan Al-Rashed, KUNA Deputy General Director for the Editorial Department and Chief Editor Saad Al-Ali, Undersecretary of the External Media at the Ministry of Information Faisal Al-Mutallqem and Editor-inChief of the daily newspaper, Al-Anbaa.

It also included Hassan Al-Sayegh from the Prime Minister’s Diwan and other renowned journalists and media figures.