17 October -- Given the immense revenues now available for Iraq to fund a range of needs beyond food and medicine, the expression "oil-for-food" has become a misnomer, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette told a meeting on the UN's humanitarian programme for Iraq which opened today in New York.
The two-day meeting is being convened to address progress and problems in implementing the oil-for-food programme, which allows the Iraqi Government to export its petroleum and use a portion of the revenues for humanitarian aid. The agenda covered the humanitarian situation in Iraq, the work of the committee monitoring the sanctions against Baghdad, reports to the Security Council, financial issues and the security of staff.
The meeting brought together senior officials from all agencies involved in the programme, including the head of the UN office in Iraq, Tun Myat.
Meanwhile, new statistics on the oil-for-food programme released today showed that over the past week, Iraq exported 16.3 million barrels of oil for revenue of around $450 million. During the same period, the sanctions committee approved two additional contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil, both held by a company in the United Arab Emirates. One contract was for 500,000 barrels of oil destined for the United States and the other for 1 million barrels headed for the European market.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
