A rchive Date
[ 17-12-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Germany ]
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[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3731291/
Germany, France to help relieve Iraqi debt
Baker's five-nation lobbying mission wins agreement
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:03 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2003
BERLIN - President Bush's special envoy on Iraq won agreement Tuesday from Germany and France, two of the most ardent opponents of the U.S.-led war, to ease Baghdad's huge debt burden.
Fresh from "very fruitful" talks with President Jacques Chirac in Paris, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III overcame serious misgivings during a meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder about the U.S. exclusion of German companies from Iraqi reconstruction.
"France, Germany and the United States agree that there should be substantial debt reduction for Iraq in the Paris Club in 2004, and will work closely with each other and with other countries to achieve this objective," the three nations said in a joint statement issued in Berlin, Paris and Washington.
The three nations have agreed that having a new government in place - which is expected by next summer - is not a condition for moving forward on debt forgiveness, a senior Bush administration official said.
Details of how much debt would be restructured and canceled were left for further negotiations.
Iraq owes $40 billion to the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and others in the 19-nation Paris Club. Other countries and private creditors are owed at least $80 billion.
Administration hails deal
Washington welcomed the agreement, the first concrete sign of cooperation in rebuilding postwar Iraq from two key nations that tried to prevent the war and have refused to contribute troops to the postwar stabilization mission.
"We all share the same goal of helping the Iraqi people build a better future, a future that is free and prosperous," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Washington.
Baker's five-nation lobbying mission was complicated by the Defense Department's exclusion of war opponents from $18.6 billion in U.S.-financed reconstruction projects in Iraq against. His next stops are Rome, Moscow and London.
Russia, which is owed $8 billion by Iraq, said it had no intention of writing off debt after learning that it could not participate in the U.S.-funded reconstruction projects.
Baker sees swift movement
Baker made no comment in Berlin, but he was upbeat in Paris after meeting with Chirac.
"We are agreed it is important to reduce that debt within the Paris Club - if possible in the year 2004," Baker said in Paris.
Despite responding to Washington's call for debt relief, Schroeder expressed concerns about the Pentagon's exclusion of German companies from Iraqi reconstruction contracts.
"Germany's position on the awarding of reconstruction contracts in Iraq was clearly expressed in the talks," Schroeder's spokesman Bela Anda said in a statement.
The White House, however, gave no indication that debt forgiveness could result in a slice of the reconstruction deals.
"We've made it very clear that when it comes to the U.S. taxpayer dollars, that we believe those tax dollars should be going to the countries that have been involved in helping to liberate the Iraqi people and help them build a free and peaceful and prosperous future, and also to Iraq, as well," McClellan said.
"If additional countries want to join the efforts of some 60 countries and the Iraqi people in the overall reconstruction, then circumstances can change," he said.
Senior officials in Schroeder's government have been among the most critical of the U.S. exclusion of firms from anti-war countries.
Defense Minister Peter Struck expressed hope that Baker's visit "would lead the U.S. administration to change its position on the awarding of contracts in Iraq," said Struck's spokesman, Norbert Bicher.
Critics in Germany also have questioned the need for massive debt relief given Iraq's oil wealth. The Foreign Ministry's top official on German-U.S. relations, Karsten Voigt, said he found it "hard to explain" that the United States was pressing Iraq's creditors to help out.
"Before the war, the U.S. government always said that reconstruction would finance itself," Voigt told The Associated Press.
© 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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