THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 30, 2000
PRESS BRIEFING
BY
JAKE SIEWERT
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
1:42 P.M. EST
Q Also, back on the oil situation. Iraq has said that as of
November 1st, oil exports will only be denominated in Euros and the
United Nations, I believe, has said it needs more time to adjust its
accounting procedures. There's an implicit threat for the Iraqis to cut
off oil exports.
MR. SIEWERT: We don't oppose, in principle, any Iraqi oil trading
that's done in Euros, provided that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi
people are met under the terms of the U.N. oil for food program.
Ultimately, under the terms of that agreement, the U.N. has control
over all the funds in the oil for food account. The money is never in
the hands of the Iraqis, it's essentially in an escrow account. So
whether the money is in Euros, dollars or another denomination is
nothing more than a technical issue. What's important is that Iraq has
a strong interest in seeing this program continue, the U.N. program, and
it's the way in which they can ensure that they get the food and
medicine they need; and they have a strong interest in seeing supply
continue at higher levels; and we will do everything we can to ensure
that supplies continue at high levels. And if they take any measures to
cut back, we will have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Europeans
have reserves that could deal with such a situation.
Q Would one solution be for the United Nations to accept the
Euros for the time being in the escrow account and adjust --
MR. SIEWERT: Check with the U.N. on the technicalities of that.
We're not terribly concerned about whether they're denominated in Euros
or dollars. As I said, the U.N. essentially controls the actual
currency in that account.
END 2:08 P.M. EST
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