Iraq urged the international community on Tuesday to deliver immediately on its aid pledges and warned more delays would further destabilise the country and threaten global security. "Unless we move fast and effectively in the next few months we will have very serious problems on our hands," Planning Minister Barham Salih told Reuters. "Failure is not an option because it will have dire consequences for the Iraqi people and for the region and for world security." Salih was speaking on the second day of a meeting of 60 countries and international organisations, following up on conferences in Madrid and Tokyo over the last two years at which aid worth $14 billion was pledged. Michael Bell, head of an international fund to help rebuild Iraq, said a meeting of donors and organisations had affirmed aid pledges and outlined a mechanism to streamline the disbursement of aid and make it more effective. "The objective is to spend the money smartly and quickly" Bell told Reuters.
