Prague, March 22 (CTK) – The Czech Republic will donate 25 million crowns for the post-war reconstruction of Iraq, which the government approved on Wednesday, its spokesman Martin Ayrer has tweeted.
Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (Social Democrats, CSSD) promised this financial support at a meeting of the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Washington on Wednesday.
The Foreign Ministry expects the money to be spent, for instance, on decontamination, mine clearance and disposal of unexploded ammunition.
The ministers of the anti-IS coalition member states will debate plans of the reconstruction and stabilisation of Iraq at the meeting in Washington.
“We will get acquainted with the U.S. strategy for the country’s reconstruction rather than for the fight against Islamic State,” Zaoralek told reporters earlier.
The Iraqi military’s offensive should soon force the IS militants retreat from Mosul, which was their power centre. In connection with its liberation, the U.N. expects hundreds of millions of dollars to be urgently needed for humanitarian aid, demining and the reconstruction of the necessary infrastructure, such as hospitals.
The Czech Republic has long participated in aid to Iraq. Along with humanitarian and development projects on which 33 million crowns were spent from the Foreign Ministry’s budget, Czech military experts operate in Iraq.
The Czech military has also delivered ammunition and L-159 combat aircraft for the fight against Islamists.
Czechs provide medical care for vulnerable groups of inhabitants in Iraq within the MEDEVAC programme working under the aegis of the Interior Ministry.
In January, the government approved the deployment of police instructors in Iraq and it plans to cooperate on the training of Iraqi diplomats as well.
In mid-February, the Foreign Ministry allocated almost 27 million crowns to seven projects by Czech NGOs that offer help directly in Iraq or support refugees in other countries.
