Annan approves oil-for-food changes

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a letter to the UN Security Council yesterday approving a plan to allow Iraq to use a portion of the revenues from the oil-for-food program to repair Iraq's telecommunications infrastructure.

The secretary general's deputy spokesman, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said that the Office of the Iraq Program has already received contracts from French and Chinese companies worth $88 million which will be circulated for consideration.

The spokesman said that the Iraqi government has proposed the expenditure of $92 million on telecommunications as part of phase five of the oil-for-food program.