American Contractor

I told you this in past newsletters that the DFI fund would be extended beyond Dec 2010. Have faith in the American Contractor!

UNITED NATIONS, July 9 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said the Development for Iraq (DFI) will remain in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York beyond December 31 of this year with the same existing mechanism and arrangements, including payment of five percent of the oil revenues to the Compensation Fund. In his second quarterly report to the UN Security Council on the issue since last year, Ban said "the Government of Iraq has received confirmation from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York of continuation of the existing mechanism in place for the DFI, to be effective after 31 December 2010." As a result, he added, a sub-account to compensate the victims of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 will be established to enable the Iraqi Government to continue to deposit five percent of its oil and natural gas proceeds in the Geneva-based Compensation Fund. By its resolution 1483 of May 2003, the council transferred the authority to manage the expenditures from Iraq's oil revenue from the United Nations to the DFI, and created the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) to monitor it. By its resolution 1905 of December 2009, the council extended until 31 December 2010 the arrangements for depositing those proceeds into the DFI, and asked Baghdad to put in place arrangements to ensure a "timely and effective transition" to a post-DFI mechanism by 31 December 2010. It also asked Ban to report every three months on the progress by Iraq in preparing for such arrangements and decided to review the provisions of resolution 1483 at the request of the Iraqi Government by mid 2010. Starting January 2011, the IAMB will disappear and Ban said he is "encouraged" that Baghdad, in coordination with the Iraqi Committee of Financial Experts (COFE), will continue to select an independent international auditor to monitor the successor entity to the DFI. Iraqi Ambassador to the UN Hamid Al-Bayati told KUNA earlier this week that beginning next year, the DFI will also carry another name, different from the one given to it by the council. Ban commended Iraq in his report released today for its efforts to make the new arrangements and encouraged Baghdad to continue to meet the deadlines set in a letter by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to the council earlier this year for the successor entity for the DFI.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2099906&Language=en