Richard Norton-Taylor
Monday April 26, 2004
The Guardian
Hundreds of private British and international corporations will be encouraged today to invest in the rebuilding of Iraq, estimated to cost as much as $500bn (£280bn).
Sponsors of the Iraqi procurement conference, at the Hilton Hotel, central London, include Raytheon, one of America's largest weapons companies many thousands of whose bombs were dropped on Iraq during the war.
Other sponsors include the oil companies Shell, ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil; Pfizer, the large pharmaceutical firm; and Volvo, the Swedish car and truck maker. The main sponsor is the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and it is organised by the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce.
"It is estimated that the entire rebuilding process could cost as much as $500bn with a heavy percentage of that money used to obtain crucial material supplies," said the conference website. Special emphasis at the conference will be placed on construction, agriculture, electricity, oil, gas, communications and what the organisers call "cultural strategies".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1203466,00.html