UNITED NATIONS, April 21 — The United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq has little prospect of releasing even $1 billion of its approximately $14 billion for emergency food and medical aid before its authorization runs out on May 12, the program's director said in an interview today.
The chief trading partners chosen by Iraq are revealed in this quote:
The Iraqi government did the contracting for the program, offering billions of dollars worth of business to companies from countries with which it wanted to trade. In the seven years since the program began, one Security Council diplomat said today, Russian companies did twice as much business as any other country's firms — $7.3 billion in oil purchases and the sale of other goods since 1996.
Other leading trading partners were Egypt, at $4.3 billion, and France, at $3.7 billion. Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and China each did more than $3 billion in business through the program, the diplomat said.
Follow the Money!
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