WASHINGTON - Andrew Natsios, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said on Monday that the criteria in election of firms, which will take place in rebuilding process of Iraq, would be ''the lowest price with the highest quality''. He said they hoped Turkey would take place in rebuilding process of Iraq.
Natsios, who held a news conference in Washington for only journalists of Arab and Moslem countries, pointed out that USAID allocated 2.5 billion U.S. dollars for rebuilding of Iraq, stating that almost all of this money came from the tax paid by American people.
Natsios said the main companies, which will carry out projects pertaining to rebuilding of Iraq, would be from the United States, and noted that foreign companies, which the main companies would make agreement, may be able to take place in the projects.
Natsios said they hoped the other government would contribute to Iraq's rebuilding process, adding that support of neighboring countries was important. He said, ''we hope Turkey will make contribution''.
Natsios said the government would not intervene which companies the U.S. companies would prefer, but that companies of countries which were included in the list of State Department ''expending support to terrorism'' would not take place in this agreement.
When asked what kind of a contribution they wanted from Turkey, Natsios said everything that would help improvement of trade would be beneficial. He said, ''like opening of borders reciprocally. Iraqi people are very open to trade.''
(AY-AÖ) 22.04.2003