Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "New Warsaw Express"

As the Iraqi conflict heads toward its conclusion, Polish companies have been scrambling for a piece of the expected reconstruction pie. Hundreds of firms have already applied to the Economy Ministry and the National Chamber of Commerce (KIG), which will try to promote their interests with the American authorities responsible for the reconstruction programme.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Poland wanted to participate in the political and economic rebuilding of Iraq, and was ready to offer higher education to large numbers of Iraqi citizens.

"Thousands of Iraqis have studied in Poland," he told Polish Radio 1. "Poland can offer to train Iraqis in the workings of local government and establish study programmes for them." He did however admit that it remained to be seen what financing would be available for such initiatives.

Cimoszewicz also said Poland was interested in recouping funds that it had lost after the conflict in 1991, when many companies did not return to claim their assets and others had theirs nationalised or just simply plundered. However, he pointed out that this did not necessarily mean a return in cash, but rather an exchange for a "more permanent role in Iraq’s post-war economy, to the benefit of both countries."

Poland claims Iraq owes it $564m, which in the late 80s it agreed to pay back in oil. Deputy Economy Minister Jacek Piechota on Tuesday said Poland would try to return to that arrangement. Poland’s second largest oil refiner, Rafineria Gdanska, last week said it had been offered a role in postwar oil mining in Iraq by one of the US firms involved.

Last week, the Polish ambassador to the US, Przemyslaw Grudzinski, emphasised to the American House of representatives the role Poland wants to play in the war’s aftermath.

"Poland will prove itself not only as an ally on the battlefield, but also in the rebuilding of Iraq," he said. On Tuesday, the government designated Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner as its coordinator of Poland’s contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq.

American Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz last Thursday said that Poland, along with the US, Great Britain and Australia, would play a leading role in the temporary administration of Iraq after the end of the conflict.

(by SIMON CYGIELSKI, "New Warsaw Express")

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