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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (KUNA) -- Noting Iraq's progress in the security,
political and economic fields, while recognizing that the country still needed
regional and international support in order to advance further, the Security
Council on Monday decided to extend until 31 December 2010 arrangements for
depositing the revenues from its oil and gas sales into the Development Fund
for Iraq (DFI).
Acting unanimously under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the council also
extended the task of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) in
overseeing the Fund for the same period.
The Council also decided that those decisions would be reviewed upon
request by the Government of Iraq or no later than 15 June 2010.
The council requested the Secretary-General to provide written reports to
the council on a quarterly basis, with the first report no later than April
1st, on the progress made in strengthening financial and administrative
oversight of the current DFI, as well as the legal issues and options to be
considered to implement successor arrangements and an assessment of Iraq's
progress in preparing for the successor arrangements for the Fund.
The council also called on the Iraqi Government to put in place the
necessary action plan and timeline by April 2010 and to ensure the timely and
effective transition to a post-Development Fund mechanism by next December,
which takes into account IMF stand-by arrangement requirements and includes
external auditing arrangements and enables Iraq to meet its obligations.
It further requested Iraq through the head of the Committee of Financial
Experts (COFE) to report to the council on a quarterly basis, with the first
report no later that next April to provide an action plan and timeline for the
transition from the DFI and details on the progress made in strengthening
financial and administrative oversight of the Fund, with subsequent quarterly
reports to provide an assessment of progress against the action plan and
oversight improvements.
Annexed to the resolution was a letter by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
Al-Maliki addressed to the council president last week, in which he urged the
members to extend the arrangements for both the DFI and IAMB until the end of
next December.
In his letter Al-Maliki vowed that the government will in 2010 make
"appropriate arrangement" for the Fund and the Board with a view to "ensuring
that oil revenue continues to be used fairly and in the interest of the Iraqi
people," in conformity with the Constitution and with the international "best
practices with respect to transparency, accountability and integrity".
That, he argued, "cannot be achieved without the continued assistance of
the international community by means of the adoption of a Security Council
resolution whereby the arrangements are extended under Chapter VII.
Iraq wants to keep the DFI under Chapter VII in order to protect it from
any claimants. (end)
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