31 October - The Security Council committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq has found "no objection" to Baghdad's request for a switch in currency in its United Nations-administered oil sales, a UN spokesman said today.
According to spokesman Fred Eckhard, the sanctions committee met yesterday afternoon to decide whether to accept Iraq's request to switch from dollars to euros. He said the committee had concluded that there was "no legal basis" to object to the currency switch. Mr. Eckhard added that the committee had asked that the UN Secretariat "work with the Iraqi Government on the technical issues involved in the transition."
Over the past week, Iraq exported 18.7 million barrels of oil with an estimated value of $495 million, according to statistics released today by the UN office which oversees the oil-for-food programme.
The Office of the Iraq Programme also reported that the sanctions committee lifted holds on humanitarian contracts worth $55.2 million over the past week. The total value of contracts placed on hold remained largely unchanged, however, because the committee placed holds on new contracts worth $52 million. Currently, some $2.28 billion worth of contracts are on hold.
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