Iraq close to receiving funds promised during Kuwait donors conference

by **Ponee** Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:24 pm

Iraq is about to receive the donations pledged during a recent conference for reconstruction donors hosted by Kuwait, a government official was quoted saying Tuesday. Sami al-Aaraji, director of the National Investment Commission, told Almaalomah website that “the grants and loans had been diversely categorized, and we are working on receiving them during the coming period”. Aaraji added that “the funds will be handed over to the finance ministry, or the reconstruction fund, or the planning ministry, or the investment commission”.

He said Iraq had informed all parties that had pledged donations to iraq of the categories in which the amounts were listed and the government bodies receiving them, a process, which he explained, will be monitored by “certain apparatuses”. He added that “there are international parties that will monitor the deliveries and projects registrations with transparency”.

Kuwait hosted an international donors conference for the reconstruction of Iraq after the damage sustained during the war against Islamic State militants since 2014. At the end of the conference, Iraq had acquired nearly USD30 billion, much less than a previously projected USD100 billion. The war against IS had displaced nearly five million people both inside and outside the country, and dealt a severe damage to the country’s infrastructure.