NEW ZEALAND: RECONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ

UNCLAS WELLINGTON 000450 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR EB/ODF-RDEMARCELLUS, EB/IRAQ AND EAP/ANP E.O. 12356: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN PREL IZ NZ SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND: RECONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ REF: STATE 36580 ¶1. Post on March 15 delivered reftel demarche to the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID). Jane Coster of NZAID on June 9 reported that the New Zealand government has allocated NZ $2 million (US $1.4 million, NZD 1.00 = USD .7145) for Iraqi reconstruction for the fiscal year 2005-6. The government has not yet decided which programs will be funded by that allocation. ¶2. (SBU) The New Zealand government disbursed NZ $5.2 million (US $3.7 million) for Iraq assistance in 2003-4 and NZ $2 million in 2004-5, or a total of NZ $7.2 million (US $5.1 million). It spent in Iraq about NZ $300,000 (US $214,350) less than the NZ $5.5 million (US $3.9 million) it had pledged at the Madrid Donors' Conference because of the amount of time that the New Zealand engineering group, involved in reconstruction activities in Iraq, had to spend in bunkers. The remaining funds were transferred for use by New Zealand's Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan. SWINDELLS