Washington, Apr 12: With political nerves on edge about Iraq's future, global finance chiefs gathered in Washington at the weekend to consider how to help rebuild the war-ravaged country and to pump up their own economies. Finance ministers from the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada, France and Italy -- the Group of Seven industrialized countries -- met in a meeting to wrap it with a communique. Russia's finance minister will join part of the meeting.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow said this week he wanted to have "framework" talks at the G7 session about Iraqi reconstruction, once the war finally ends, including some sort of deal over forgiving the war-ravaged country's past debts. But underlying the talks are tensions caused by splits between group members over whether the United States and Britain should have gone to war in the first place.
Germany, France and Russia led opposition to the war, saying the United Nations should have had more time to carry out arms inspections in Iraq.
The G7 meeting is taking place on the fringes of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and some participants still were maneuvering over the roles the UN and the two global lenders would play in rebuilding Iraq. Snow wants the World Bank to move swiftly to launch a study of Iraq's reconstruction needs, which are likely to include everything from schools to power stations and upgraded oil-pumping stations worth billions of dollars in contracts. Bureau Report