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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Washington to press G8 on Iraq debt |
| 2004-06-09 |
| The US administration on Tuesday signalled it would press other members of the Group of Eight industrialised nations to relieve Iraq of its $120bn external sovereign debt, as President George W. Bush celebrated the prospect of closer international co-operation. Officials said the US would push its case on relieving Iraq of its external sovereign debt. A Bush administration official noted that the International Monetary Fund had said the "vast majority" of Iraq's debt needs to be forgiven and added that the US would back that position. Although the focus of this year's gathering is bound to be Iraq - underlined by the arrival on Wednesday for lunch of Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, Iraq's president, along with several other Middle Eastern leaders - the US hosts have been eager to tout a long list of G8 initiatives. These include commitments or programmes encouraging free trade, fostering democracy in the Middle East, building peace-keeping capabilities, addressing HIV/Aids, facilitating remittances by immigrant workers, reducing famine in the Horn of Africa, eradicating polio and introducing a "Methane to Markets" scheme to take waste gas and turn it into clean energy. The talks begin with one on advancing economic growth. US officials say the outlook for global growth was better than it had been for two decades. However, John Snow, US Treasury secretary, indicated that Washington was concerned that the slower rate of growth in countries such as Germany, France and Italy was proving a drag on US trade and job creation. |
| Posted by:Steve White |