Iraq and UN launch Compact to boost foreign aid

BAGHDAD, July 27 (Reuters) Iraq and the United Nations today said they had launched a fresh initiative to build international support for the country's reconstruction, under a five-year plan that was also backed by the World Bank.

In a statement to formally launch the International Compact with Iraq, they said that Baghdad was committed to tackling corruption and remaining a united, federal and democratic nation that would be well on the way to economic self-sufficiency by the time of the project's end.

''The Compact, jointly chaired by the Government of the Republic of Iraq and the United Nations, with the support of the World Bank, will, over the next five years, bring together the international community and multilateral organisations to help Iraq achieve its national vision,'' the statement said.

Foreign investors have been kept away by a raging insurgency that is killing 100 people every day.

But Baghdad is desperate to kick-start its oil-dominated economy to improve the lives of ordinary citizens and ease the unemployment that officials blame for bolstering the ranks of the militants.

It also wants to secure millions of dollars pledged by foreign donors but not yet delivered, as well as negotiating contracts with other governments and multinational companies to rebuild its oil industry and fractured infrastructure.

Iraq and the UN plan to open a consultation process with interested groups and nations, and then hold broader talks with the international community in New York in September, at the next meeting of the UN General Assembly.

REUTERS AB PM2026