| Date: 10/07/2012 Time: 09:41:00 PM |
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed
satisfaction with Iraq's cooperation with the UN Compensation Commission
(UNCC) and Baghdad's continued payments of five percent of its oil proceeds to
compensate the victims of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990,
predicting that full compensations will be completed by early 2015.
In his six-month report to the Security Council on the matter issued
Tuesday, Ban expressed "my ongoing appreciation to the Government of Iraq,
including its Committee of Financial Experts, for its continued commitment to
fulfilling its obligations and its ongoing cooperation with the Compensation
Commission."
He said the "overall amount of compensation made available to date by the
Commission is approximately USD 36.4 billion, with a total outstanding balance
of USD 16 billion remaining to be paid. It is estimated that this balance will
be paid in full by early 2015."
Since the beginning of the year, he noted, the Compensation Commission has
made two payments to Kuwait of more than USD one billion each - the first was
made on January 26 and the second on April 26. The next payment - close to 1.3
billion - is scheduled to be made on the 26th of this month.
Ban said Iraq, through the Head of its Committee of Financial Experts,
reiterated to the Head of the Geneva-based Compensation Commission "the
importance that the Government of Iraq attaches to ensuring continued
observance of the relevant United Nations resolutions, and advised that the
Committee had no plans to alter the current mechanism for payment of 5 per
cent of revenue from the sale of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products into
the Compensation Fund."
He said the average monthly income from the Iraqi oil proceeds to the
Compensation Commission for the first three months of this year was
approximately USD 352 million, and that the income for the month of April was
however USD 396.3 million, because of Iraq's increased oil production.
"The current levels of income to the Compensation Fund suggest that the
Government of Iraq is in compliance with its obligations" under relevant
Council resolutions, he concluded, adding that this will be confirmed once the
audit of the Development Fund for Iraq and the successor account to the Fund
is finalized. |