Brussels Conference Gathers UN, EU and US to Rebuild Iraq

A conference with the aim of rebuilding Iraq commenced yesterday in Brussels to figure out the future for the war-torn nation. The meeting was hosted by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States. Representatives from 80 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait were also recorded as being present.

Iraq, two years after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime is still struggling with the slow reconstruction of country's cities and infrastructure amid multiple difficulties and insecurities.

After the elections that took place on 30th January 2005 and the formation of the cabinet in early May, the new government put as priorities the reconstruction process and the re-writing of the constitution.

Last week an agreement was reached on how many Sunni Muslims should be part of the committee working on the new constitution's draft.

The drafting of the new constitution is essential for human rights and for religious freedom in the country. At this stage, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in cooperation with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will hold a briefing entitled: Religion & Iraq’s Permanent Constitution: Constitutional Models of Predominantly Muslim Countries.

During the briefing, the recent study on religion-state relationships and religious freedom in the constitutions of predominantly Muslim countries will be presented. Discussion regarding the relevance of this study in the context of Iraq's new constitution draft will follow.

At the meeting in Brussel it will be attemped to unite the different opinions on the management of the Iraqi crisis.

Iraq, during Hussein's regime amassed debts of US$120 billion. A huge part of the debt was cancelled last year and according to some observers, this meeting may allow Iraq to benefit from complete debt cancellation.

Aid programmes to rebuild the infrastructure and education and health services have slowed due to corruption and security problems. Much of the allocated money is being tied up in projects that are slowed especially due to the insecurity in the country. This has been caused mostly by the presence of terrorist groups from Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Kofi Annan is expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference to push the progress of Iraqi reform forward. In addition, a donor conference will be held next month to accelerate the flow of aid donations to the country.