Washington Times
June 9, 2004

Washington, DC: The Bush administration will push fellow members of the G8 summit in Georgia to forgive Iraq its $120 billion in external debt, the Financial Times said.

To back the bid, an administration official noted the International Monetary Fund has already said the vast majority of Iraq’s debt needs to be forgiven as part of reconstruction.

As Bush prepared to greet the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations at Sea Island, Ga., for a Group of Eight meeting focused on the Middle East, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to accept the resolution that formally ends the occupation of Iraq June 30.

The focus of the G8 gathering is the rebuilding of Iraq, underlined by the arrival Wednesday for lunch of new Iraqi President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, although the United States has a long list of other initiatives.

They include commitments or programs encouraging free trade, fostering democracy in the Middle East, building peace-keeping capabilities, addressing HIV/AIDS, reducing famine in the Horn of Africa and eradicating polio.