Iraq's prime minister on Thursday called on its creditors to cancel about $60 billion in debts, saying they are hindering the country's road to recovery despite a reduction in violence. Opening a UN conference on Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki also praised his country's security and economic progress and said the government had kept Iraq from descending into the “abyss of civil war.” “We are looking forward to the brother countries writing off its (Iraq's) debts, which are a burden on the Iraqi government,” he said. The Stockholm conference is the first annual review of the International Compact with Iraq agreed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh last year, which committed Iraq to implement reforms in exchange for greater international support. More than 500 delegates from dozens of countries and international organizations were attending the conference outside Stockholm, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. About $66.5 billion of Iraq's $120.2 billion foreign debt has been forgiven, according to the US State Department estimates. More than half of the outstanding debt is owed to Gulf Arab states. Iraq is obliged to set aside 5 percent of its oil revenues as compensation payments, amounting to $3.5 billion this year, according to the Iraqi government. He said the large debts along with compensation payments for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, were shackling the economy. Arab League chief Amr Moussa backed Maliki's call, noting that 39 countries had already offered Iraq debt relief.
