Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/24/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-309018

TITLE=IRAQ / DONORS CONFERENCE (L)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=MADRID

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Promises of money for Iraqi reconstruction have begun to flow at a donors conference in Madrid, after delegates heard accounts of the country's widespread needs ranging from health to housing. Although the total pledged so far falls short of what the World Bank says Iraq requires, officials at the conference say it is at least a start. V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports.

TEXT: The first country to make a pledge Friday was Italy, which offered 230 million dollars over three years. Then, Japan, which had already promised one-point-five billion dollars in grants, announced it would offer an additional three-point-five billion dollars in low-interest loans through 2007.

After that, it was the turn of Iraq's neighbors. Saudi Arabia said it would pledge one billion dollars, half in loans and the rest in export credits. Kuwait also announced a contribution of one billion dollars. The United Arab Emirates promised to give Iraq 215 million dollars.

The money will mainly go to rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, damaged by three wars, 12 years of sanctions and 30 years of dictatorship. But, according to the meeting's host, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who spoke through an interpreter, the Madrid conference was about much more than building hospitals and schools, or providing clean drinking water to needy Iraqis.

/// AZNAR INTERPRETER ACT ///

So, we are committing not just to material reconstruction. We want to recover the dignity of a people, the stability of a region. We want to restore our credibility as free and peace loving societies.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Mr. Aznar was a strong ally of the United States during the war in Iraq. But European nations that opposed the conflict, notably France and Germany, are not eager to help foot the bill for the country's reconstruction, until the U-S role in Iraq is reduced.

Horst Kohler, the head of the International Monetary Fund, says Iraq needs not only immediate reconstruction aid. He says it also needs economic stability and reforms to lure private investment, and lower a staggering 60 percent unemployment rate.

/// KOHLER ACTUALITY ///

These results will not come overnight in Iraq, where the economy has been badly damaged. It will require comprehensive reforms to the economy and the development of sound institutions and policy-making processes. And we all know that these reforms will only succeed, if there is ownership by the Iraqi people.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

The U-S administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says Iraq must have a constitution, and then elect a new government, before the U-S-led coalition can turn power over to the Iraqis. Even though he says that process is on track, he acknowledges that differences over the war and its aftermath still linger.

/// BREMER ACTUALITY ///

The countries represented in this hall may have disagreed in the past. We may disagree today on one point or another. But by our presence today, we signify that we agree on one major point and that is that the Iraqi people need help to realize their future of hope.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

The pledges made in Madrid will go into a donors fund, sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations. A 20-billion-dollar pledge made by the United States will come under the control of a separate fund. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/MAR/TW/RH