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Nations Pledge $33 Billion for Iraq
Aired October 24, 2003 - 13:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: World leaders are throwing their support behind Iraq, pledging billions of dollars of aid at the Iraq Donors' Conference in Madrid. The amount appears to have fallen short of expectations. CNN's Sheila MacVicar joining us now from Madrid where officials are tallying up the final total. Hello to you, Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. They're calling it an enormous success, a very successful conference. And from the Iraqi perspective, Ayad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council calling it an historic day for his country.
The final figure coming out of here, $33 billion. Now, some of that is not new money. Some of it is money we knew about going in here. That figure includes $20 billion which the United States had already said it would pledge. And it includes grants and loans from other countries, countries like Saudi Arabia, pledging $1 billion. The Japanese, pledging $1.5 billion in grants, and another $3.5 billion in loans.
The question of what is a loan and what is a grant is a central issue for Iraq, one that the U.S. president has already said he is deeply concerned about. America's $20 billion is before the Senate and the Senate has voted once already to -- rather than give it all as a grant, to give half in loans, something President Bush has said he does not want. It was a subject that Colin Powell addressed here at the conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: U.S. contribution, the president feels very strongly, that it should be in the form of grants. And we would encourage those nations that are able to do so to provide support in the form of grants.
But what is more important, really, at this conference, is that a reservoir, pool of money, has been put together, that totals, as a minimum, in my judgment, and we'll get the details in due course, $33 billion that will be available to the Iraqi people.
And as secretary of the treasury just said, it will be very sensitive to the debt burden being placed on the Iraqi people. We have to restructure the old debt and be careful about the new debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR: Now, Secretary of State Colin Powell there, talking about the Saddam-era debt. That debt burden still being carried forward by Iraq today. It totals more than $100 billion a level of debt called unsustainable. The next task of the international community will be to meet again and find some way to deal with that debt.
In the meantime, they are very greatly concerned Iraq does not take on more debt, thereby burdening itself even further -- Heidi.
COLLINS: A lot of details to hammer out that is for sure. Sheila MacVicar, live from Madrid, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 24, 2003 - 13:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: World leaders are throwing their support behind Iraq, pledging billions of dollars of aid at the Iraq Donors' Conference in Madrid. The amount appears to have fallen short of expectations. CNN's Sheila MacVicar joining us now from Madrid where officials are tallying up the final total. Hello to you, Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi. They're calling it an enormous success, a very successful conference. And from the Iraqi perspective, Ayad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council calling it an historic day for his country.
The final figure coming out of here, $33 billion. Now, some of that is not new money. Some of it is money we knew about going in here. That figure includes $20 billion which the United States had already said it would pledge. And it includes grants and loans from other countries, countries like Saudi Arabia, pledging $1 billion. The Japanese, pledging $1.5 billion in grants, and another $3.5 billion in loans.
The question of what is a loan and what is a grant is a central issue for Iraq, one that the U.S. president has already said he is deeply concerned about. America's $20 billion is before the Senate and the Senate has voted once already to -- rather than give it all as a grant, to give half in loans, something President Bush has said he does not want. It was a subject that Colin Powell addressed here at the conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: U.S. contribution, the president feels very strongly, that it should be in the form of grants. And we would encourage those nations that are able to do so to provide support in the form of grants.
But what is more important, really, at this conference, is that a reservoir, pool of money, has been put together, that totals, as a minimum, in my judgment, and we'll get the details in due course, $33 billion that will be available to the Iraqi people.
And as secretary of the treasury just said, it will be very sensitive to the debt burden being placed on the Iraqi people. We have to restructure the old debt and be careful about the new debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR: Now, Secretary of State Colin Powell there, talking about the Saddam-era debt. That debt burden still being carried forward by Iraq today. It totals more than $100 billion a level of debt called unsustainable. The next task of the international community will be to meet again and find some way to deal with that debt.
In the meantime, they are very greatly concerned Iraq does not take on more debt, thereby burdening itself even further -- Heidi.
COLLINS: A lot of details to hammer out that is for sure. Sheila MacVicar, live from Madrid, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
