Kuwait to offer Iraq aid; France, Germany decline

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Kuwait said yesterday it will offer "generous aid" at an Iraq donors conference opening today in Madrid, but France and Germany said they would be offering no new funds for postwar reconstruction.

Kuwait, which has already spent $900 million on humanitarian aid to its neighbor, is one of more than 70 nations gathering for the two-day conference, where U.S. officials are hoping to capitalize on the spirit of last week's unanimous U.N. Security Council vote.

"What is important at the moment is that the economy be jump-started, because it's flat on its back," John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN.

The United States has not set a dollar goal for the conference, although the World Bank estimated in a report last week that it will take an estimated $36 billion to bring Iraq back to prewar standards. No formal pledges will be made until tomorrow.

The World Bank report looked at requirements in 14 areas, including schools and education, health care, electricity generation and water infrastructure. The report did not consider security needs or the costs of rebuilding Iraq's oil industry, as both areas remain under control of the coalition forces.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan both are scheduled to attend the conference, but several European powers are sending lower-level delegations. France is sending Trade Minister Francois Loos instead of its foreign minister.

"We don't foresee any additional aid at this stage, either in terms of financial aid or in cooperation in the military domain," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said yesterday in Paris. "To us, the starting point is truly the full and complete recognition of Iraqi sovereignty."

France has, however, promised to help through the European Union, which has pledged $233 million.

The U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, extended an olive branch in an interview yesterday with the French newspaper Le Figaro.