US special envoy for Iraqi debt, James Baker, will visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia yesterday after securing promises from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar to waive most of Iraq's debts to the two states.
Baker "had a sucessuful and productive meeting in the UAE and in Qatar on the subject of Iraqi debts," a US administration official accompanying the special envoy said, requesting anonymity.
He said Baker would travel to Kuwait before visiting Saudi Arabia on the same issue.
The UAE announced Tuesday it would write off the bulk of some US$4 billion owed by Iraq to the oil-rich Gulf state.
Earlier Tuesday, a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said Qatar would write off most of the debt owed by Iraq but officials in the gas-rich state were mum on the size of the debt.
The US official would not disclose the amount of debt owed to the UAE and Qatar.
"The UAE committed to forgive the vast majority of the Iraqi debts and aid [and] it was ready to begin negotiation quickly," the US official said.
For its part, "Qatar issued a statement stressing that debts reduction in 2004 is critical for Iraqi people to rebuild the country ... Qatar committed to forgive the vast majority of the Iraqi debts and said it will consider forgiving all of its debts," he said.
The US official welcomed the fact that "Qatar is the first announcing the possibility of forgiving all the debts," adding that Baker hailed the move by both states as an "important step forward" while there was "more work to do."
The White House said Monday Baker would visit Saudi Arabia on a trip lasting to today.
Saudi newspapers, quoting official sources, reported in October that Riyadh would only reschedule, not write off, an estimated US$28 billion owed by Iraq.
Saudi Arabia pledged US$1 billion of aid to Iraq at an international donors conference in Madrid in October. Half would be extended through the Saudi Development Fund and the balance used to "finance and guarantee exports to Iraq."
The former secretary of state has already visited Europe and Asia with Washington's message that Iraq's debt hampers US-led efforts to put that country on course for democracy and prosperity.
Earlier this month, Kuwait said Baker was not expected to include the issue of billions of dollars in war reparations Baghdad owes the emirate for its 1990 invasion and subsequent seven-month occupation.
Kuwait has filed compensation claims worth US$170 billion to the UN Compensation Commission, which has already approved some US$37 billion to the emirate and actually paid about US$9 billion.
Unofficial estimates put the amount of Iraq's debt to Kuwait at around US$15 billion without interest.
Most of the Kuwaiti money was given to Baghdad in the 1980s when Iraq was at war with neighboring Iran.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San