September 22, 2005
JS-2938

Statement of Treasury Secretary John W. Snow

Today we welcomed our friends and colleagues from the Iraqi Ministry of Finance and Central Bank for productive discussions on the ongoing efforts to ensure continuing reconstruction and economic development in Iraq. We hope that later this week the next milestone would be reached with the IMF, and the IMF would, with Iraq, be able to announce that they are moving into the negotiations phase of the standby agreement. That would be an important next step on the path to a standby agreement for the country. I commend Minister Allawi and Governor Shabibi for their terrific leadership, courage, and the skill and confidence that they bring to the monetary and fiscal economic policy issues of their country. Iraq is fortunate to have people of their ability holding these posts at this historical time.