Czech Reupublic spends CZK 1.9 billion on Iraq's reconstruction (06/10/05)

The Czech government has earmarked $78 million (more than CZK 1.9 billion) for the reconstruction of Iraq thus far, Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told journalists yesterday after talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Czech aid to help Iraq humanitarian aid among other things

The money went to, among other things, humanitarian aid, activities of the field hospital in Basra and training of Iraqi Police, Svoboda added.

Since 2003, the Czech government has offered CZK 500 million to support concrete projects and feasibility studies in the area of energy, oil mining, water economy, prospecting and transport infrastructure.

Talabani yesterday also met represenatatives of Czech companies interested in investing in Iraq. Among them are Aero Vodochody, Azas Invest, Chemoprojekt, Citibank, Jawa and Strojexport.

During the meeting with Talabani, Chemoprojekt expressed interest in taking part in a tender for the construction of a refinery in Kurdistan. Chemoprojekt CEO Tomas Plachy told CTK that the company would take part in the tender in a consortium with the firms Unis and Vitkovice, and possibly also with other Czech companies.

Czech companies are welcome in Iraq for the quality of work they did in the country in the past. In the 1970s and 1980s, they took part in building Iraqi industry, in particular in the chemical and petrochemical production.

The volume of government-supported projects of Czech companies in Iraq, according to earlier data from the Industry and Trade Ministry, should grow to CZK 8.6 billion this year, from last year's CZK 290 million.

Source: Iraq Directory