Kuwait (February 14, 2018): Kuwait, Turkey and others have declared to support Iraq in its rebuilding process on Wednesday.
Kuwait, which is hosting an international donors’ conference to raise funds for Iraq, pledged $2 billion in loans and investment whereas Turkey to share $5 billion in Iraq’s reconstruction phase after its devastating three-year war with Daesh.
Kuwait’s Emir said it would lend $1 billion and commit a further $1 billion of investments to Iraq, joining a group of international backers that have this week pledged funds to bolster the country’s recovery.
Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah told an international conference that, “Kuwait will earmark $1 billion in loans to Iraq and will commit to another $1 billion as investments.”
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged $5 billion in loans and investment.
Minutes later, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc would invest 400 million euros, in addition to individual contributions from member states.
Saudi Arabia said it would allocate $1 billion for investment projects in Iraq and $500 million to support Iraqi exports.
Qatar said it would allocate $1 billion in loans and investments, while the United Arab Emirates pledged $500 million in investment.
Those sums together with $495 million from the European Union and $100 million from Australia bring the total pledged so far to over $10 billion on the third and final day of the donors’ conference, still in progress.
Baghdad says it needs nearly $90 billion to rebuild after a three-year war against Daesh which devastated homes, schools, hospitals and economic infrastructure, displacing millions of people.
Those sums are dwarfed by the more than $88 billion that Iraqi officials have said it will cost to rebuild the country after three years of war, with housing a particular priority.
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