Washington, July 23: The US governor in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has created the Trade Bank of Iraq, opening a global race for a potentially lucrative contract to run it, an official said today. Bremer, on a week-long visit to the United States to brief officials on the reconstruction, signed an order creating the trade bank at the weekend, Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto said.
The bank would issue and confirm letters of credit -- basically payment guarantees -- to smooth trade flows, boosting imports such as heavy construction equipment and also freeing up exports, particularly of oil. Bremer, the US-appointed civilian administrator of Iraq, would name a president of the Trade Bank of Iraq "well before August", Fratto said.
The newly installed bank president would then select a banking consortium for a one-year extendable contract to operate the facility.
"We hope to be able to name the operating consortium of banks by August," the Treasury Department spokesman said. The Iraqi governing council and Bremer would "advise and consent to the selection" of the winning banking consortium without actually making the decision, he said.
"It is a wide net that we are casting. The president of the Trade Bank of Iraq will make the selection but no countries are being ruled out except for those that the administrator, Paul Bremer, might recommend," he said.
The contract would include the provision of training and support so that the institution could later operate by itself, he said. Bureau Report