Thursday, March 28, 2024

Baghdad

Japan fears Iraqi irresponsibility using aid package

 Japan fears Iraqi irresponsibility using aid package

Iraqi and Japanese flags. File photo.

Iraqi and Japanese flags. File photo.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Japan has said it fears its financial assistance to Iraq will go “in vain” if the Iraqi government does not fulfil its responsibilities towards those packages.

Japan’s ambassador to Iraq, Fumio Iwai, said all efforts by his country to contribute to development projects in Iraq could “go in vain” if the government in Baghdad.

Quoted by an embassy statement during a conference in Baghdad, Iwai said his country was committed to Iraq’s development through seaports, water, electricity, fertilizers and irrigation projects.

The conference was tackling a 2012 project signed by both countries in which Japan would provide enhanced internet services for 150.000 homes in Baghdad by the end of May 2017.

Japan had extended its official aid to Iraq to a total of USD5.7 billion, mainly targeting to rehabilitate the country’s infrastructure in the fields of electricity, water, sanitation, petroleum and natural gas. It also provided USD330 million for humanitarian and stabilization purposes.

The Iraqi economy, relying on petroleum as its main lifeline, has suffered seriously since Islamic State militants took over large swathes of the country in 2014 to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate”. The government has pleaded to international donors to assist in the reconstruction of its devastated infrastructure as well as to address the needs of more than 500.000 people displaced by its campaign to retake areas occupied by IS.

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