21 March 2003
Rapid Steps to Improve Iraqi Economy Needed after Hostilities End
(Economists present views of Iraq reconstruction at CSIS forum) (530) By Jay Richter Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- The president of the U.S.-Iraq Business Council, Rubar Sandi, said steps that lead to quick, tangible, and highly visible improvements in the quality of life for Iraqis need to be taken as soon as hostilities end. The sooner the coalition eliminates doubt and anxiety about its intentions, the sooner Iraqis can focus on their new found freedom and opportunity, Sandi said. Sandi, along with Bart Fisher, a trade specialist at Brian Cave LLP; Sabri Al-Saadi, an economist and Iraqi development adviser; Christopher Jones, managing director of Calder and Cooke, Ltd; and Eric Schwartz, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, participated in a panel discussion on economic reconstruction of Iraq presented by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington March 19. Given the fact that 70 percent of Iraqis have lived only under Saddam Hussein's rule, Sandi said transition to a new government and a new society could prove difficult, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein has not served his people well. With regard to specific recommendations, Sandi said Iraq's massive debt will require immediate attention. He said the military debt should be forgiven, since Iraqi civilians had no role in creating Saddam Hussein's military machine, and the non-military debt should be renegotiated as soon as possible to pave the way for Iraq to start rebuilding its economy. Fisher said Iraq's economic rehabilitation should not be based solely on reviving its oil industry. Free trade and foreign investment from a variety of countries should be encouraged to diversify the economy with other types of industrial production, he said. Fisher cautioned against implementing an abrupt transition to a market economy, saying the experiences of Russia and Eastern Europe have shown the pitfalls of doing that too rapidly. Al-Saadi predicted a bright economic future for Iraq since "Iraqis have the highest education level of all developing nations." Al-Saadi and Sandi are co-authors of the Phoenix Plan, a set of recommendations for Iraq's reconstruction. In their "Phoenix Plan", Rubar Sandi and Sabri Al-Saadi propose that an interim government include expatriate Iraqis, as well as Iraqis who have subsisted under Saddam Hussein's regime and trusted experts from the international community. Transparency in the decision making process is a key ingredient to economic empowerment, they emphasize. One needs to look only as far as northern Iraq for "an example of an expanding economy," Christopher Jones told the forum. He advised that recent economic strides made by the Kurds in that region should be emulated and repeated and that other sectors of the country should be encouraged to similarly develop on their own in a responsible way. The role of U.S. multinational corporations must be highly scrutinized in the opinion of Eric Schwartz. Schwartz noted the importance of the international perception of U.S. policy and intentions in Iraq and also stressed the importance of establishing legal codes and justice systems early on, pointing out that eliminating dishonest business practices, such as cronyism, is an essential part of establishing a viable new economic system. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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