IRAQ'S ambassador in Sofia, Hayder Al-Barrak, has made a public call for Bulgaria to write off the $1.7 billion debt owed by Iraq to Bulgaria.
Al-Barrak was one of the speakers at a roundtable held by the Atlantic Club on July 4 on "Federal Iraq, Problems and Opportunities for Bulgaria's Contribution to its Reconstruction."
According to a report by Bulgarian news agency BTA, Al-Barrak said that his government would like to see other countries follow in the footsteps of the Paris Club of official creditors, which wrote off 80 per cent of Iraq's debt to its members.
Al-Barrak said that states should withdraw their claims for compensation against Iraq. The people of Iraq were not to blame for the errors and crimes of the previous repressive regime, he said.
Petko Doikov, director of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's Middle East and Africa Directorate, said that Bulgaria had always approached the question of Iraq's debt mindful of Bulgaria's national interest.
Doikov described the debt question as "a matter of principle" and said that while Bulgaria was aware of Iraq's economic and financial status, it would not change its position. Bulgaria was owed sums by other countries and did not want to have to differentiate among its debtors, Doikov said.