Posted on 09/22/2003 4:14:24 PM PDT by Brian S
DUBAI (AFP) - Israel will not be allowed to take advantage of the liberalisation of the Iraqi economy to penetrate the market, Iraqi officials said.
"This is out of the question," interim Planning Minister Mahdi al-Hafez told journalists on the sidelines of a conference held at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) and World Bank (news - web sites) in this Gulf emirate.
"There is no intention to recognise Israel," added Adel Abdul Mahdi, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi transitional Governing Council who is leading the Iraqi delegation to the meetings.
The delegation announced here Sunday a plan of economic reforms allowing 100-percent foreign ownership in all sectors except oil and natural resources, and the establishment of a free and open market including banking and services.
Hafez said the reform plan was announced in order to make Iraq (news - web sites) more attractive for the donors who are to gather on October 23-24 in Madrid.
"We need to have such a policy as we approach the donors' conference," he said.
Iraq's interim Trade Minister Ali Allawi said his government hoped to attract "as a priority" Arab investors. "There are is one trillion dollars in Arab funds seeking investment, Iraq is an opportunity," he said.
Interim Finance Minister Kamel al-Kilani said the government decided not to open the oil sector to foreign investments "because it is a strategic sector."
Hafez said Iraq hopes to negotiate a rescheduling and restructuring of its foreign debt, mentioning the possibility of transforming part of it into investments.
Kilani forecast fiscal revenue for the Iraqi government at 300 million dollars in 2004, and said the rest of the between 13 billion and 14 billion dollar budget is to come from projected oil exports.
Kilani told AFP Sunday that his government hoped to get financial commitments of around 70 billion dollars from the donors' conference for the reconstruction of Iraq over the next four to five years.
According to the Institute of International Finance, Iraq's external obligations total 133.5 billion dollars, of which 105 billion in foreign debt and 28.5 billion dollars in outstanding war compensation to Kuwait.
So much for a free and democratic Iraq; we'll be lucky if Islamic extremists don't take over somewhere down the road. Most countries in that region are just not ready for a Western-style democracy; to presume that we will be able to change their culture to suit our interests in the mideast is just plain ludicrus.
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