Announcement of Mission to Iraq to Review the Country’s Economic Potentialities on February 23, 1951

:CM'l!®'TATIOWAL EA~ FOR ~COltsTRVCTIOU AND DEV'ELOPlv'IEN'r • FOR TlrE PRESS Press Release No. 236 FOR RELEASE F1 iday~ 1 February 23, 1951 The !nterne.tionaJ.. B~nk' fo~ Reconstruction and Develo:pment ann.ounced today that it is sending a ~ission to Iraq to up~ertake a gene~al re~iew of the count;"'"/ 1 8 econo~c potenttallties and to make recol1Ullend.ations desisned to assist tbe Govern.• ment in formulating a lopg-~erm :prograIQ. for the further develop:men~ of I,;-aq's productive resources. Tlle Mission, which was orsanized at the request of t4e Iraq Government, will be headed by Ivar :Rooth, prominent Swe9.ish f!n~n,cier. It w:Ul arrive in Baglio.ad on February Z5th and will remain in !raq fo,;- about three months. Th~ l{isftion i.s both larger ~nd more international in com:po~:I.tion than any previous mission S!)Onaorecl by the lnternational Bank,. Uationala of seYen diffe~·ent ·~ count~ies • France, India, the Netherlands, the Ph1lippine Republic, the United • Ki:ng~om, the United States and Sweden - are incl~ded in the fou~teen•man team of eX,:Perts. 'l'hree other ipternational organizations coo:pel;'ated with the International .Bank ~Il thei1· recruitment. Tlle Wo:i;-ld Health Orsan;tzation. and the United Nations Edu.cat1onal, Seientific and Cultural Orsanizat:ton nominated the spectalists who will serve in their respective fields. The Food and A.~icultu~e Or$anizat1on of the un;te~ Nations nominated the three experts in as,;'iculture and is sharing in th~ cost of thei~ services~ Tlle Mi~sion I s studies will. e~enq. to all majo;- sesments of ,the Iraq ec.onomy, 1nclu(\ing public finance, asricult~e, animal husbandry, :tr:rigat19n, flood cont1 ol. 1 and drainage, transpor,t~tion, induetcy anq. :power, public healt~, ed~~ation, public adm:1.n:tstration and CO'~unity plannins and houa1ns. The M:t.~s1on :w:tll make ~com• • • mend,ations ~~ to priorities of i~v~~tme~t; means otb.e~ th~n tnve~rtment to 1mp~ove and increas~ Pl"9<1ruct1rm; and. ~4rliin;l.at~at1ve, ~con~mic o):'" fisca~ c~a-ngee which may be adv:teable fo:r the fu~e~ develOl'lflent of th, ooµntry ~ s economy. ·  / . L~· ; ,. I / .. 2 - Iyar Rooth, Ch!ef of Mission, was GovernQ.r of ,the Cent1·a:l Bank' of' Sw$den from • 19:a8 to 1948. l'r.ior to that he hel9, ·:IlrlPQMant :posts in banking 1;1nd fin.a.nci~l et• feirs in Swede~. He is John C~. de Wilde (U .. s;.) wiU be tp.e Mission's Chief ~onom.isti' a membei-- of the sta.!'f of the Inte~ational :Bank and foi'1118r1Y served 'in the u.s, Department of State and E.C.A_. Benj8Illin King (U .•t.), also frqin tne B~'s Economic Depa!'tmant, w.lll serve as general ecoµonp.st. M:t::rosJ,.av A. l{~iz (u.s.): wi.11 be the i.11.ssion.• s expert on :public ftnanoe. He is a Seniox- 'l£conomist on tlle staff of the Federal Res.erve Bank of New York and served ea~lier with the League of Na.- t:t.ons Se~:reta:aiat. C.R.J .Nalie:paa:rd ('l'lle Nethe~·J~axicl.a) is the Nission' s ~gricul- tural econol?liat. lI~ ie Ine:peo.tor of A~:J.eulture fo;· ~e !·Tethe:rl@ds. 'I'he Mis-. sion ~ s agronomist w:iU be Lu.ther q~ Jones (U .s.) , Aasoc:l&te Sp~cialist in A6t'OnOD.J1.· at tbe A~~ult~ral E~ert:ment Statio~ of the University of Caltforni~. T.~:.t"elk$ld • {U.K.) is th.~ Mission's e,q)ert in animal hus~andey._ He hae b~d- long e~erienoe in_ this field 1n J~aica, Swt;tziland and. the Union of Sout~ Africa and ts now e.tt~ehed • to the_ British Mi~dle Eaet Office jn C&iro. Jean R, de Far~e~ (Fran9~) wil~ be· the ensineer~ns ~~ert on ir~iGation, riood control ~nd drai.nase~ Mr.; de Fargµ.e$· has served :in this capacity o~ sevei~~l Bank missions ~(l is noted 1.n thi·~ f'ie·ld both in France and abroad. E,. Roser HondeUnlc (U.~.), formerly Dj,rector of the Eurol)ean t~e,ns:port ~rgM1zation aneli now ~r~~:eorte.tion Consultant in the U.S •. , }las been a~~ointed T~anepo~tation Specialist on the Mission. He recently oompl~ted a silf}ilar aseignm~n,t on the Bank's mission to Turk.ey. The t·nd,.lst:ey and power special- ist is Ca~l Flesher (U•?• ~. Mr. F~esh~r joj.ned the Bank's staff in 1950 ~fte:r servins as s:peciBtlist,;for :pow~r ~nd ;tndust,;y on the, l3&tik's-IQisaion to Co;l.ol))bia. Dr,. _A.E.~or~~en (u.g;.~ is. _the .Mission's :pu?lic healtll eX!)ert. Re has helrl :1il)..- ,;. portant posts in this field in Cyrenaica and the Sudan Med~.cal Ser:.rice. S~b:u.ller (The Uetherlan~s) c •. W,.,,, will be tl+e Misalon's- spc,cia,J,:.st :tn ptibld:o a<lminist:ra"' . :: • tion... He has had lons expel"ience ,, . ' in t}1::a field as an adminiBt:t."ato;r- in the !ndoue- . sian . . Se~ioe, a,;id ~s made e.vaile.ble for the Ivli:;sion by the Netherlands :Bureau Civil ',,  - 3 -· for International Tecbhfcal Assi'stance With which he 1-s now serving~ A.C.Kayanan • (Philippines) wfil advise on community planning and houa:tng •. Nr •. Xayanan, who was chief Planner of the National 'Q'rl)an Flann;tns CO$iss:ton of the Philippines, has Just completed ,an assignment as a mem'be~ of the United Nations Tropice.l Housing " Mission to India, Pakistan, M~laya, In~one~i~ and Thail~nd, The advise~ o~ educa- tion will be K~ G. Saiyiddj,,n (India). Mr. Sa1!}1'1dd1n was i'o:'merly· educational ad• viser to the Govel'IlJ?lent of Bombay and ii;s now Education~! Adviser to t;he Government of India" ~pecialiting :f.n funda:ttiental ~nd ;ru;r,a;I, ep.uQation. An adJDinistrative staff of four will accom.:pa?lY the Mission to Iraq: Brian Osborne, Eugene Troy, Misij Rose Diliberto and. Mre. Eunice o. ))orey. • : • !