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Monitoring board for Iraqi development fund to meet on Friday

Monitoring board for Iraqi development fund to meet on Friday

An international board entrusted by the United Nations Security Council with monitoring the United States-led management of funding and revenues in Iraq will hold its first organizational meeting on Friday.

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB), consisting of representatives of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations and the World Bank, was created to audit the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), established by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

Its purpose is to ensure that the DFI “shall be used in a transparent manner to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraq people, for the economic reconstruction and repair of Iraq’s infrastructure, for the continued disarmament of Iraq and for the costs of Iraqi civilian administration and for other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq.”

It is also charged with ensuring that export sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas from Iraq are consistent with prevailing international market best practices.

Three of the member institutions today announced their IAMB representatives: Bert E. Keuppens, Senior Adviser, Finance Department at the IMF; Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, UN Assistant Secretary General and Controller; and Fayezul Choudhury, World Bank Vice-President and Controller. The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development representative is to be named shortly.