September 11, 2009
U.S. Ambassador: Iraq will be the economic engine and development in the region
Stressed his country's commitment to withdraw from the country said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said his country expects to maintain its plan to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within a year, at the time of the Iraq be directed towards a market economy can generate economic growth and increase employment opportunities.
Hill said before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, "This year we will make sure that our troops withdraw, as prescribed and according to the timetable set by President Barack Obama.
He continued: he will place "a strong and healthy relationship between Iraq and the United States," describing the bombings in Baghdad last month as "horrific", but he stressed that "the Iraqi people refuse to enter into a new cycle of violence."
The U.S. ambassador said that "Iraq needs to focus on the economy in the near term and to put the security and political as much, but" it is not expected to pass the Iraq oil law, expected for a long time, but after the elections scheduled for early next year.
He added that "Iraq needs to rebuild the infrastructure and widespread, as did Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in the years of the seventies and eighties," expected Iraq to be the economic engine and development in the region, especially since he includes a huge potential in natural resources, including more than 100 billion barrels of oil, the third largest reserves in the world.
Hill said the second aspect of his speech to the U.S. House of Representatives, has strained Iraq's relations with both Syria and Kuwait, the existence of many internal threats to the stability of Iraq, calling on Baghdad and Arbil to the settlement of outstanding issues between them.
BAGHDAD - A follow-up to the morning
