OFFICE OF IRAQ PROGRAMME LAUNCHES WEBSITE

27 March 1998

Press Release
IK/247

OFFICE OF IRAQ PROGRAMME LAUNCHES WEBSITE

19980327 NEW YORK, 26 March (Office of the Iraq Programme) -- The Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) announced that as of 23 March, the Phase III Distribution Plan for the "oil-for-food" programme can be accessed on the Internet by using the URL (web address) http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/index.htm and then clicking on "Distribution Plan". Interested parties can also navigate to this site from the United Nations Home Page at http://www.un.org using the "What's New" links there.

The importance of the Distribution Plan was among the topics presented at a briefing held by the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) on 19 March at United Nations Headquarters. The briefing was held at the request of the Secretary-General and was attended by representatives of Member States, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.

Under-Secretary-General Benon V. Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, told the briefing that due to a serious drop in world oil prices, there was a revenue shortfall of approximately $400 million for the oil lifted by Iraq during the first half of Phase III. Consequently, contract applications which had been approved for Phase III by the Committee established under Security Council resolution 661 (1990) could not be honoured until sufficient funds were received into the United Nations Iraq Account. Mr. Sevan also explained that although the terms of Security Council resolution 1153 (1998) provided for an expanded "oil-for-food" programme, no decision to amend the existing programme was anticipated before the Secretary-General reported on the findings of a group of oil experts as to the actual capacity of Iraq to increase its oil sales.

Also at the briefing, participants were informed that as of 9 March, the oil revenues available for the purchase of humanitarian supplies under Phases I and II of the "oil-for-food" programme had been exhausted. Under these circumstances, the Government of Iraq had requested that all medical applications still pending under Phase I or II be transferred to Phase III, while contracts involving non-health sector goods could be renegotiated and

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resubmitted under Phase III or subsequent phases. The Secretariat was now returning this latter category of applications to Missions with guidance as to how to resubmit them, should the parties so choose.

Experts from OIP reported that although the overall number of deficient applications submitted to the Secretariat had decreased, more than 20 per cent of applications were returned because they did not comply with the 661 Committee's established criteria. The most frequent problems occurred when applications did not match the exact terms of the contract. The Secretariat remained ready to offer its assistance in connection with the proper completion of applications prior to their submission.

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