Iraqi interim leaders opened a meeting of donor countries yesterday with a cry for urgent help as aid only trickles through and violence rages ahead of the US-led coalition's June 30 deadline for the handover of power.
"Iraq needs your help now," interim planning minister, Mahdi al-Hafidh, told the gathering of some 200 representatives of 40 countries and international bodies in Doha, including the UN and the World Bank.
A total of US$33 billion was pledged at a donors' conference in Madrid last October.
Later, US$1 billion was earmarked in February to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq. World Bank officials have said US$500 million of that should be committed to specific projects within two months.
Seventeen projects and programs valued at US$230 million have been approved so far, UN officials said.
Hafidh told the delegates that a first convention had been signed with the World Bank to buy US$40 million-worth of school supplies and books.
He spoke of the "immense challenges" facing Iraq, which faces "high levels of crime, kidnapping, rampant violence," and has just 33 days before the coalition's deadline for the return of sovereignty.
But he also listed achievements such as opening 2,400 schools, 240 hospitals, 1,200 clinics and 1 million telephone lines -- 20 percent more than under the ousted Baathist regime.
"Today we [all] must move more quickly to fulfil the hopes of the Iraqi people for a better life."
The two-day donor meeting is meant to review aid disbursement, push ahead with new projects and bring in fresh aid pledges.
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