Iraq should be given relief from its multi-billion dollar debt, and other countries, in addition to the United States, should be pressed for cash to help rebuild the country, US officials said Wednesday.
Senior Bush administration officials told Congress they are making progress in helping reconstruct Iraq, following the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by US-led forces in April, but lawmakers voiced concern that aid is not reaching Iraq quickly enough.
"When the time comes, there will be the need to give extensive debt relief to Iraq," Paul Larson, Under Secretary of State for economics and business, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
John Taylor, Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs, told lawmakers the administration is working with the United Nations and the World Bank to convene a first meeting of donors in New York on June 24th.
Iraq's foreign debts are estimated to be between 60 and 130 billion dollars, while aid donations to the country, pledged by the international community, are running at over 2 billion dollars.
"Now we face a challenge in Iraq, and we are asking the donor community, the Iraqi people, and the rest of the world to believe that reality will match our rhetoric, and to believe that we will stay committed to reconstruction in Iraq," Democratic Senator Russ Feingold said.
"There is ample reason to be skeptical," Feingold said, especially given some disappointments with the US aid effort in Afghanistan.
AFP