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THE
government of Iraq said on Tuesday reconstruction
efforts in the war-stricken nation are expected to help
ease the global crunch of skyrocketing oil prices,
adding it has yet to tap some 10 billion barrels of oil
reserves.
Iraqi
Ambassador to Manila Falih Al-Assadi, who reestablished
the diplomatic mission in the country nine months ago,
said his government is allocating a total of $82 billion
for the rebuilding and reconstruction that started last
year.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has requested President
Arroyo, in a letter sent three months ago, to lift the
travel and employment ban to Iraq to allow Filipinos to
get employment there.
Jesus
Yabes, foreign affairs assistant secretary for Middle
East and African affairs, said one primary condition for
the lifting of the travel and employment ban to Iraq is
“peace and stability.”
“It is
my fervent wish that Iraq would be able to achieve
complete stability in the most immediate time possible,”
Yabes said during the Iraq symposium held Tuesday at the
Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.
At the
same time, Al-Assadi said reconstruction efforts will be
“smooth and faster” if the American-led forces in Iraq,
now at 135,000, will leave their country.
Asked
whether Iraq will charge the Bush administration before
the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war
crimes and crimes against humanity, the Iraqi diplomat
said: “We will wait for the US forces to leave the
country first. We have to address immediate issues first
like the return of some 500 tons of uranium that were
transferred to Canada and the number of Iraqis who
[died] from American actions.”
He said
the Iraqi government will need a total of 20 million
more workers to help rebuild the war-torn country.
He said
the first 10 million workers would be sourced from
nearby Middle East countries, while the second batch of
10 million will be open to foreign workers like the
Filipinos.
Ten
countries in the Middle East are now planning, he added,
to reestablish their diplomatic missions in Iraq, with
Bahrain as the first to name its new ambassador.
Al-Assadi
said the Americans had discovered during the invasion
that Iraq has larger oil reserves than Saudi Arabia,
currently the leading oil exporter.
“Iraq
has an estimated 10 billion [barrels of] untapped oil
reserves and we can help increase the global oil
production once we are able to stabilize our nation,”
said Al-Assadi in an interview at the sidelines of the
symposium.
He
stressed that as part of the rebuilding, Iraq intends to
increase production of its oil and gas sector for
export.
This
effort includes increasing the rate of crude oil
production by around 2,720 barrels a day.
“We also
intend to increase opportunities for investment in gas
production by 1,425 million cubic feet daily.”
In his
speech, Al-Assadi said Iraq is now regaining its
position in the key international bodies, such as the
United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of
the Islamic Conference. |
