- PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Undersecretary
for Trade Grant Aldonas said Tuesday he expected the second batch of contracts
for the reconstruction of Iraq to be opened up to all countries, not just
U.S. firms.
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- Aldonas said the United States had sought not to discourage
any country from bidding for sub-contracts for the first round of reconstruction
contracts.
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- "There will be a second tranche of contracts, which
I expect will be opened more broadly to all comers," he told the French-American
press club in Paris.
-
- The United States initially barred France and other countries
that opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq from bidding on prime contracts for
$18.6 billion in U.S.-funded Iraqi reconstruction projects.
-
- President Bush on Jan. 13 said Canada could bid in a
second round of these contracts and U.S. officials have said France, Germany,
Russia, and perhaps all those who opposed the war, may soon be permitted
to do so.
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