The two-day international conference on the reconstruction of Iraq, which gathered about 1,200 representatives from 71 countries, 20 international organizations and 225 private companies, opened in Madrid Thursday.

The conference would seek to "set long-term reconstruction priorities, perhaps stretching over 10 years or longer, draw the participation of various countries and create a multilateral fund" for getting Iraq back on its feet, Spanish officials said.

The first day of the conference would feature technical discussions on Iraq's needs in education, health and its electrical grid. The formal pledges for Iraq will come Friday, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and foreign ministers from Japan and Italy would appear at the conference, while most other countries would send lower-level delegations.

Separate from the two-day event, representatives from private companies and several business associations from more than 40 countries around the world are expected to meet with Iraqi officials to discuss investment opportunities.

Eager for more cash and troops from other countries for Iraq to ease its own burden, the United States hopes to drum up about US$36 billion in donations for Iraq at the Madrid conference, suggested by Spain, a staunch US ally in Iraq war.

But with the World Bank and UN estimating the country's needs at US$55 billion, almost three times as much as pledged in donations or loans, the conference is likely to be only a first step along a rocky and winding road towards even a semblance of prosperity, analysts said.

So far, US$27 billion in donations has been promised. The majority of it, or US$20.3 billion, is to be provided by the United States, but the US Congress wants US$10 billion of that to be loans.

Despite the adoption of the new UN resolution on Iraq last week, France, Germany and Russia, which opposed the US-led war in Iraq, have made it clear that they will contribute no more money to Iraq's reconstruction.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2003)