Since 1996, those funds have been used to buy food imports under the "oil-for-food" program, devised to provide for Iraq's humanitarian needs while the country remained under UN economic sanctions.
"Mr. da Silva has agreed that we should plan on the World Food Program to spend that money starting as early as next week" on the homegrown cereals, Bremer said.
Da Silva, however, said reinforced security is closely related to purchases of the Iraqi harvest, "so we can move money, and technicians can go around and make purchases."
Iraqi officials say food warehouses have been among the targets of pillagers who stripped government buildings, banks and other sites of everything from commodities to cash to electrical fixtures.
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