19 April 2003
U.S. Coordinating with U.N. on Aid to Iraq, USAID Chief Says
(Natsios adds Iraq reconstruction effort largest since Marshall Plan) (240) By Kathryn McConnell Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The United States is coordinating closely with the United Nations to deliver humanitarian assistance and reconstruction aid to Iraq, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew Natsios said in an April 18 television interview. Natsios said there is a large amount of misunderstanding among the media and public of how aid agencies work together to get help to where it is needed. The same coordinated aid delivery system the United States and United Nations agencies have used in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Somalia and Haiti is being used in Iraq, he said. Natsios emphasized that the United States is committing the largest assistance team and the largest amount of resources to a single country in a single year since the Marshall Plan following World War II. Congress has approved the Bush administration's request for approximately $2,500 million for aid for Iraq in the fiscal year ending October 1. USAID is prepared to deliver water, medicines and other essential needs as soon as aid workers' security needs are met, Natsios said. USAID-led aid workers are now in Nasiriyah, Baghdad, Basra and Umm Qasr, he said. Natsios added that the United States is the largest contributor to the U.N. World Food Program, which has begun shipping food aid into Iraq from Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey. (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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