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Talk gives way to pledges at Iraq reconstruction conference
Madrid, Oct 24: Nudged by the United States, international donors made multimillion dollar pledges today to rebuild Iraq amid hopes that its transformation into a prosperous democracy would help stabilize the entire Mideast.
Madrid, Oct 24: Nudged by the United States, international donors made multimillion dollar pledges today to rebuild Iraq amid hopes that its transformation into a prosperous democracy would help stabilize the entire Mideast.
``All of us are here today to make a strategic investment in hope,'' US Secretary of State Colin Powell said. ``Now is the time for all of us to be generous with money, with training, with opportunity.''
The President of Iraq's US-appointed governing council, Ayad Allawi, opened the session with promises that his country would not forget those who helped it in its hour of dire need. Powell said Saddam Hussein's ``republic of fear'' is gone. ``What remains is the colossal wreckage of three decades of monstrous misrule by a regime that was as corrupt as it was cruel.''
The pledges being announced today ``can help the Iraqi people make a clean break from the misrule of the past,'' Powell said. ``We must get started now.''
Italy was among the first to come forward, offering USD 232 million over three years in addition to the 3,000 troops it has stationed in Iraq. Japan promised USD5 billion, also through 2007. European countries are pledging 700 million for next year, less than the us$931 million they offered to Afghanistan in its first year of post-war rebuilding, the European Union's Italian presidency said.
Bureau Report
The President of Iraq's US-appointed governing council, Ayad Allawi, opened the session with promises that his country would not forget those who helped it in its hour of dire need. Powell said Saddam Hussein's ``republic of fear'' is gone. ``What remains is the colossal wreckage of three decades of monstrous misrule by a regime that was as corrupt as it was cruel.''
The pledges being announced today ``can help the Iraqi people make a clean break from the misrule of the past,'' Powell said. ``We must get started now.''
Italy was among the first to come forward, offering USD 232 million over three years in addition to the 3,000 troops it has stationed in Iraq. Japan promised USD5 billion, also through 2007. European countries are pledging 700 million for next year, less than the us$931 million they offered to Afghanistan in its first year of post-war rebuilding, the European Union's Italian presidency said.
Bureau Report