Iraq hopes Kuwait conference will contribute towards its reconstruction

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah speaks during the Kuwait International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq on Feb 11, 2018 in Kuwait city. (AFP)

BAGHDAD: Iraq needs $22.9 billion in the short term and $65.4 billion in the medium term for reconstruction and recovery, the Iraqi minister of planning said on Monday.
The Iraqi government — backed by a US-led international coalition and Shiite-dominated paramilitaries — led a major military campaign to liberate vast swathes of the country which were seized by Daesh militants in June 2014.
That campaign officially ended in December when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi declared that the three-year war on Daesh was over, and that all Iraqi territory had been liberated.
However, the government now faces several challenges, including the reconstruction of the affected areas; ensuring the return of more than two million displaced people to their homes; establishing stability; and reconciling communities in former conflict areas.
The Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq, hosted in coordination with the Iraqi government, began on Monday. Representatives from 70 countries and over 2,300 businesses are participating.
Iraq’s Minister of Planning Salman Al-Jumaili headed the opening session of the conference, which was devoted to reviewing the scale of the damage inflicted on various sectors of life in Iraq in the seven provinces affected by the insurgency — Nineveh, Anbar, Salhudeen, Baghdad, Babylon, Diyala and Kirkuk. Nineveh was the most-damaged province, Al-Jumaili said.
“The total damage to the seven provinces because of terrorist acts ... amounted to about 46 billion dollars,” Al-Jumaili said in a statement issued by his media office on Monday. “Add to that the total damages in the security sector, which amounted to 14 billion dollars and the value of losses on bank assets, which amounted to about 10 billion dollars.”
Housing was the worst-hit sector, suffering damage amounting to $16 billion — around 35 percent of the total damage. The energy, oil and gas sector suffered damage amounting to around $11 billion; the industrial and trade sector $5 billion; agriculture, more than $2 billion; education $2.4 billion; and the health sector $2.3 billion.
Iraq estimates the total damage caused by terrorism and the war on Daesh to amount to $88.2 billion. Baghdad hopes the conference will help attract international investment in Iraq and cover some of the cost of reconstruction.