G-7 finance ministers urge World Bank/IMF involvement in iraq

G-7 Finance Ministers Urge World Bank/IMF Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 7 (G-7) industrialized nations April 12 agreed that the international financial institutions should conduct a preliminary needs assessment of Iraq and provide the country with technical assistance as soon as possible, says U. S. Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Briefing reporters at the end of two days of meetings in Washington of ministers and bankers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, Snow said the group also agreed that international cooperation is needed to "find, freeze and marshal" the assets of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We recognize the need for a multilateral effort to help Iraq," the group said in a post-meeting communiqu? issued the same day. "We support a further U.N. Security Council resolution [regarding an independent Iraq]. The IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank should play their normal role in rebuilding and developing Iraq, recognizing that the Iraqi people have the ultimate responsibility to implement the right policies and build their own future," the communique said.