Annex I

Letter dated 3 January 2003 from the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme addressed to the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations

On behalf of the Secretary-General, I have the honour to acknowledge receipt, under cover of your letters dated 26 December and 31 December 2002 addressed to the Secretary-General, of the distribution plan submitted by your Government for the new period specified in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1447 (2002) of 5 December 2002.  In this respect, I should like to inform you that I have been authorized by the Secretary-General to convey the following.

I have the honour to inform the Government of Iraq, through you, that, having examined the distribution plan, and taking into full account the relevant provisions of resolutions 986 (1995), 1447 (2002), and 1454 (2002), as well as the memorandum of understanding concluded on 20 May 1996 between the United Nations Secretariat and the Government of Iraq (S/1996/356), the Secretary-General has come to the conclusion that the plan, if properly implemented, should meet the requirements of equitable distribution of humanitarian goods to the Iraqi population throughout the country. The plan is therefore approved with the following understandings.

The United Nations welcomes the positive response by the Government of Iraq to the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council dated 12 November 2002 (S/2002/1239, section VI) on the presentation of the distribution plan. The financial allocations presented in the distribution plan are regarded by the United Nations as being provisional and for planning purposes only, as the funding level for the distribution plan for phase XIII is based on the estimated revenues to be received from the volume and price of oil exports from Iraq. 

Furthermore, in view of the difficulties which are being experienced in the implementation of the programme due to the substantial shortfall in funding from previous phases, it is essential that the Government of Iraq keep under constant review the funding levels and revise, as appropriate, the allocations contained in the distribution plan for phase XIII, in order to ensure the availability of necessary funds to various sectors, particularly to priority sectors such as health, water and sanitation.  The Office of the Iraq Programme will keep the Government of Iraq fully informed on the status of the funding level and provide any assistance, which the Government may wish to have in that regard.

The approval of the distribution plan is subject to the condition that its implementation is governed by the relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 986 (1995), 1281 (1999), 1284 (1999), 1302 (2000), 1330 (2000), 1360 (2001), 1382 (2001), 1409 (2002), 1447 (2002), 1454 (2002) and the memorandum of understanding (S/1996/356) and that, in case of inconsistency between the particular provisions of the plan, on the one hand, and the resolutions and the memorandum of understanding, on the other, the provisions of the latter documents shall prevail.  Furthermore, the approval of the plan is without prejudice to actions that might be taken by the Security Council Committee established by resolution 661 (1990), regarding applications for export of particular items contained in the Goods Review List submitted for the Committee’s consideration (S/2002/515 and resolution 1454 (2002), annexes A and B).

 

                                                                                                           (Signed) Benon V. Sevan 
                                                                                                            Under-Secretary-General