Iraqis to Discuss Debt With G-7, IMF
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iraqi officials will discuss the country's reconstruction efforts with finance ministers and central bank presidents from the world's seven leading industrial countries early next month and will meet with officials of the International Monetary Fund, the IMF said Wednesday.
Finance officials from the Group of Seven countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - will be meeting Feb. 6-7 in Boca Raton, Fla., for discussions led by Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on developments in the global economy and a review of progress in efforts to cut Iraq's massive foreign debt.
IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said that a delegation from Iraq would make a presentation at the G-7 meetings, which will also be attended by IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler. Dawson said the Iraqi officials would then travel to Washington for meetings with IMF officials over the possibility of an IMF loan program to help the country's reconstruction efforts.
"The delegation will meet with fund staff to initiate discussions on policies that could eventually be part of a program that could be supported by the fund," Dawson said.
Earlier this month, James A. Baker III, the Bush administration's special envoy on Iraqi debt, and Snow briefed officials at the IMF and World Bank on Baker's recent globe-hopping trips seeking commitments from other countries to cut Iraq's huge foreign debt, estimated to be around $120 billion.
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Both the IMF and the World Bank are expected to be significant sources for new loans to help in Iraq's reconstruction efforts. But World Bank President James Wolfensohn said last year that the United States and other rich nations would need to forgive two-thirds of Iraq's debt burden for the country to have a chance at economic recovery.
Iraq owes about $40 billion in debt to the G-7 countries and other rich nations that make up the so-called Paris Club of creditor countries. Another $80 billion is owed to various Arab governments.
The Bush administration has welcomed the expressions of support for debt relief that Baker has received during his various trips. In December, France, Germany and Russia - three countries that opposed the U.S.-led invasion that ended President Saddam Hussein's government - said they would join with the United States in granting debt relief.
Baker received similar debt relief commitments in later trips to Japan, China and several Arab countries.
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