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World Bank President James Wolfensohn said Thursday that the bank is prepared to help with the rebuilding of Iraq once the war is over but major new loans will require authorization from the United Nations.
Speaking at the press conference held before the joint Spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Wolfensohn stressed that the World Bank can only deal with legitimate governments recognized by the United Nations. He said to lend to any other authority would complicate repayment questions.
"We are limited to dealing with recognized governments and that is a decision for the United Nations to take," he said.
Wolfensohn said the World Bank may dispatch assessment teams to Iraq to determine what the greatest needs are before there is any formal UN vote, but he stressed that a decision to grant loans would have to wait for UN authorization.
The comments by James Wolfensohn put the World Bank on the side of European nations who have been arguing that any reconstruction program should be done with UN authorization.
The Bush administration has argued that the United States and its allies in the war initially should play the leading role in running post-war Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2003)
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