IRAQ SUMMIT: Delegates from almost 70 countries and representatives of 30 international bodies and non-governmental organisations are meeting in Madrid today and tomorrow for a two-day conference to raise funds to rebuild Iraq.
Mr Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, arrived in Madrid from New York to inaugurate the conference, which will be attended by 1,200 delegates and which he hopes will bring an to end some of the bitterness and scepticism from countries which have refused to back the US and British invasion of Iraq.
The United States is sending a high-level delegation headed by the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr John Snow, but most other states are being represented by second-level officials.
Syria, which has a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, is one of the few Arab nations to attend. The Spanish Foreign Minister, Ms Ana Palacio, who was in Damascus with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on a state visit, said late on Tuesday night that Syria had agreed at the last minute to send a delegation.
A study carried out by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has estimated that $36 billion (€30.5 billion) - most of it for reconstruction of the ruined infrastructure - will be needed over the next four years to rebuild Iraq. The World Bank has already pledged $5 billion (€4.2 billion), Japan $1.5 billion (€1.27 million), the EU a further $200 million (€170 million) - half the sum requested by the European Parliament but a similar amount to that which was promised to rebuild Afghanistan.
A further $1.3 billion (€1.1 million), way below the money needed, has been pledged by other countries. Ireland, which has yet to promise any specific sum of money, is represented by Mr Brendan Rogers and Mr William Carlos of the DCD.
The largest donation, of about $20 billion (€17 billion), is expected to come from the US, but this is dependent on agreement as to who will hold the purse strings.
The US is demanding the controlling hand, while countries such as France, Russia and Germany are reluctant to take any steps which could be conceived as legitimising the US invasion of Iraq. They insist that all funds should be controlled by the UN and World Bank.
Another bone of contention is that the US has still not said when it intends to return sovereignty to Iraq. When agreeing to pledge its funds to Iraq, the EU demanded "an adequate climate of security, a realistic timetable to devolve sovereignty to the Iraqi people and a transparent multilateral fund to channel international donations for the reconstruction process".
Mr Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, stressed the urgency of stabilisation in Iraq.
"The sooner we have a more stable and secure situation in Iraq," he said last week, "the easier it will be to channel economic aid and pledges from the different countries."
A parallel conference for multinational and private companies will be taking place in the Spanish capital at the same time. Mr Fernando Diez Moreno, the Spanish Commissioner for the Iraq Donors conference, said: "This is not going to be a contracts fair, but it aims to show industry what Iraq needs, how they can help the country and what opportunities are open to them."
Although the Spanish government backed the US-British alliance, an overwhelming majority of the people were vehemently opposed to the invasion. Millions of people took to the streets to show their opposition and more than 40 different groups are planning to demonstrate again this week. More than 5,000 members of the security forces have taken over strategic positions around Madrid to prevent any disruption of the conference.