Iraq In Need Of Financial Support To Recover Infrastructure After War -Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim

Iraq is currently going through challenging circumstances in light of armed conflicts held in the Middle East and strongly needs the financial assistance to recover the country's infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and residential blocks, Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim told Sputnik on Wednesday

BAGHDAD (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2019) Iraq is currently going through challenging circumstances in light of armed conflicts held in the middle East and strongly needs the financial assistance to recover the country's infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and residential blocks, Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"Iraq aspires to implement with donor countries projects, which form the cornerstone to build the infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways, housing units and schools," Alhakim said.

According to the minister, the priority for the government is "to implement productive and highly operational projects with introduction of modern technology."

The minister pointed out that "Iraq is a rich country, but it is going through exceptional circumstances because of the war and the decline in oil prices, which reflected on the decrease in the annual budget size, and therefore reduced financial allocations for reconstruction projects.

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The minister also stressed Russia's role in the reconstruction of Iraq and expressed gratitude for the country's aid.

"As for the Russian Federation, it was one of the first countries that helped Iraq to conduct a war against terrorism and expressed its desire to provide assistance... particularly, in the areas of energy, oil production, investment and financing of infrastructure projects."

He also thanked the Russian side for training a number of diplomatic staff as well as receiving more than 3,000 Iraqi students at Russian universities.