Carlyle Counselor Baker to press East Asia on Iraq

posted by ewing2001 on Monday December 22, @01:32PM

Baker to press East Asia on Iraq

CNN -Tuesday, December 23, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential envoy James A. Baker will try to persuade Japan, South Korea and China to help reduce Iraq's crushing debt during visits later this month, the White House has announced.

Baker will meet with leaders in Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea, on December 29, and Beijing a day later, the White House said Monday.

The former U.S. secretary of state has already visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, London and Moscow.

Iraq owes about $40 billion, including interest, to members of the Paris Club, an umbrella organization of creditor nations that conducts debt negotiations.

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At least another $80 billion is owed to other Arab countries and nations outside the Paris Club.

France, Germany and Russia, opponents of the U.S.-led war, voiced support for reducing Iraq's debt burden during recent visits by Baker.

While Japan is contributing to postwar reconstruction and recently approved a plan to send 1,000 military personnel to Iraq and Kuwait for humanitarian assistance, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government has not said whether it would forgive any of the billions that Iraq owes Japan.

Japan estimates its Iraqi debt at U.S.$4.54 billion, saying that rises to $7.76 billion when penalty fees are included. That puts it in competition with Russia -- owed an estimated US$8 billion -- as the top holder of Iraq debt in the Paris Club.

Much of the Iraqi debt owed to Japan stems from projects such as construction of hospitals and power stations undertaken by Japanese companies in the 1970s and early 1980s, the Finance Ministry says. The Japanese government had since assumed the debts from private companies.

On Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush spoke on the phone with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

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