Brussels, 14/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday, for the first time since the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the world's major powers sought to show a united front with regards Iraq. They affirmed that the effort for rebuilding the country should be made within the framework of a UN resolution, and agreed it was necessary to settle the question of Iraq's debt. Reconciliation was sketched out within the framework of the meeting in Washington of the G7 Finance Ministers, the seven most industrialised countries, and representatives of the 184 member countries of the International Monetary Fund, meeting within the IMF steering body in the US capital.
The declaration of the G7 finance ministers states they acknowledge the need for a multilateral effort to help Iraq. They support a new resolution by the United Nations Security Council. The IMF International Monetary and Financial Committee also supported a further UN resolution, but insisting more than the G7 (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) on the human aspects of the situation in Iraq. The Committee, states a press release, notes that the current situation in Iraq poses major problems, with an urgent need to restore security, ease human suffering and promote economic growth and the elimination of poverty.
While stressing that the IMF and the World Bank must play their "normal role", the G7 considers that the Iraqi people must, above all else, have the responsibility of implementing good policies for building their own future. This declaration was taken up word for word by the IMF. The two bodies have, in parallel, called on the Club de Paris - which brings public creditors together - to act fast regarding the matter of the Iraqi debt. It is important, they insist, to tackle the problem of the Iraqi debt, and they are impatient to see the Club de Paris take on the matter as soon as possible. John Snow, US Treasury Secretary, said the Iraqi people alone cannot carry the burden of the current debt levels and they recognise the fact that the Club de Paris must begin to address the issue. Cooperation, he added, is vital to provide humanitarian aid and to answer the challenge of reconstruction. Division has appeared over the debt issue between the United States, which calls for a generous gesture toward Baghdad, and the EU represented countries, that are anxious to recover their funding but not to do anything that would be detrimental for the very poorest countries, Africa in particular. Francis Mer, French Finance Minister, said that Iraq should most certainly receive their attention but Niger must too. They must not forget that there are many other countries, also, he said. Hans Eichel, his German opposite number, affirmed that Germany is not only expecting to recover its money but will recover it. The German credit amounts to some EUR 4 billion. The EU has had its fingers burnt by the statements made by the number two man at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz (one of the falcons of the US Administration) who had insisted that France, Germany and Russia should rub their slates clean.
The G7 was careful not to publicly give figures for the Iraqi debt. According to concordant estimates, Iraq's external debt amounts to over $120 billion, and even more than $380 billion if one takes into account compensations that the Iraqi regime must pay for having invaded Kuwait in 1990.