Iraqi Officials Ask Donors to Speed up Distribution of Finan

（单词翻译）

Iraqi Officials Ask Donors² to Speed up Distribution of Financial Assistance

Kerry Sheridan

Representatives from some 40 donor¹ countries financing Iraq's reconstruction³ program open a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi Saturday. Iraqi officials are asking the donors to speed up the distribution of about $33 billion that was pledged last year.

Iraq's interim⁴ minister of planning and development, Mehdi al-Hafidh, opened the conference by urging donors to disperse⁵ $4 billion this year.

He also said that negotiations⁶ with lending countries have resulted in principle, in a 60 percent reduction of Iraq's overall $120 billion in debt. The minister said the official amount of debt reduction has not been announced yet.

Mr. al-Hafidh said Iraq's needs are enormous and urgent. Iraqi officials will present a list of some 700 key rebuilding projects to the group, which includes representatives from the United States, European Union, World Bank and International Monetary⁷ Fund.

The donors met in October of last year, and pledged to provide $33 billion in loans and grants to Iraq, although Iraqis estimated the country would need $56 billion over the next three years.

The money will be distributed through a trust fund managed by the United Nations Development Group and the World Bank.

A World Bank official has said the fund would probably disperse some $500 million to the Iraqi government by the scheduled June 30 transfer of power from the U.S.-led Coalition⁸ Authority to the interim Iraqi Governing Council.

Security concerns and ongoing⁹ terror attacks inside Iraq are discouraging many foreign investors¹⁰ from pouring money into the war-torn country until the situation stabilizes¹¹.

Iraqi officials say they need funds now to help rebuild schools, regulate the power supply and modernize¹² the agricultural industry.

注释：

donor [5dEJnE(r)] n. 捐赠人，赠与者

speed up  加速

pledge [pledV] v.允诺，保证

Mehdi al-Hafidh  伊拉克计划部部长。

disperse [dis5pE:s] v. 分散

World Bank  世界银行

International Monetary Fund  国际货币基金组织

loan [lEun] n. 贷款

grant [^rB:nt] n. 赠款

Development Group  发展小组

Coalition Authority  管理委员会

ongoing [5Cn^EuiN] adj. 正在进行的

regulate [5re^juleit] vt. 管制，控制