Notices for Companies and Delegations

Implementation of resolutions 1472 (2003) and 1476 (2003)

UPDATE

 19 May 2003  

HIGHLIGHTS

·  Goods worth almost $949 million confirmed as shippable by 3 June 2003

·  Nine new contracts worth $8.5 million for essential medical items received under para 4 (e)

   of SCR 1472 (2003)

·  Over 40,000 tons of food under the programme reaches Iraq 

1.         Goods to be shipped by 3 June 2003.  As at 19 May 2003, the UN agencies and programmes have identified goods in 372 contracts worth $949 million as shippable by 3 June 2003, based on the advice from the respective suppliers. This is a further increase by some $150 million in comparison to the figure reported on 13 May 2003.  Most of the goods in the confirmed category are in food ($463 million), electricity ($239 million) and agriculture ($119 million) sectors. The sectoral breakdown of confirmed priorities is provided in Table 1 below.  

2.         Nine new contracts for emergency medical items received under paragraph 4 (e) of resolution 1472 (2003). Paragraph 4 (e) of resolution 1472 (2003) authorizes the United Nations to procure essential medical items, provided such items are not available under the already approved contracts. As at 19 May 2003, the Office of the Iraq Programme has received 9 applications for essential drugs from WHO  valued at $8.48 million as a part of $22 million project for provision of essential drugs during a three-month period. So far, two contracts valued at $5.27 million were circulated and approved by the 661 Committee (comm. numbers 1310004 and 1310005) as required under paragraph 4 (e). Barring any objections from the Committee, the rest are expected to be approved during the week under a 24-hour non-objection procedure. The medicines in these applications are either unavailable in already approved contracts or are available in insufficient quantities. In some cases, already approved medicines could not be shipped by 3 June 2003.  

3.            Contracts under review as potential priorities. In addition to the goods in 372 confirmed priority contracts,  further 212 contracts with a balance of undelivered goods worth some $330 million are still being considered by the UN agencies and programmes for possible shipment by 3 June 2003. This is a decrease from 239 contracts valued at over $360 million reported on 13 May 2003, mostly due to the confirmation of the items concerned as shippable priorities. As expected, with the deadline of 3 June 2003 approaching, the number and value of contracts in this category continued to decrease, as contracts under review are either confirmed as shippable or are altogether deleted from the list if the goods could not be shipped within the mandated period.  

Table 1:Contracts confirmed as shippable by 03/06/03 and contracts

under review (as at 19 May 2003)

* Note: contains values of goods confirmed as shippable by 3 June, not necessarily the full outstanding balance for each contract in this category 

4. Three additional un-funded contracts funded under paragraph 4 (g) as priorities.

In addition to the seven contracts reported earlier, five already approved but previously un-funded contracts were funded after being selected as priorities by the UN agencies and programmes, bringing the total in this category to 12 contracts valued at $53 million. The items concerned have been reported as priority items to the 661 Committee in accordance with paragraph 9 of resolution 1472 (2003). 

5. Non-priority goods in transit.

The total number of contracts considered as “in-transit” has increased somewhat since last week from 377 to 390 registered cases, as some new cases have been registered with OIP. The UN agencies and programmes confirmed adoption of a total of 102 contracts out of which goods valued at $483 million are in transit. With possible extension of the SCR 1472 (2003) mandate, the UN agencies and programmes are looking into a possibility of adopting additional contracts with goods in transit after 3 June 2003, to include contracts in oil industry sector. 

Table 2: Summary of contracts in transit as at 19 May 2003

* Please note that the values indicate total for goods yet to be delivered and not the value of goods that may be shipped by 3 June 2003. Only partial shipments of the balance goods are possible by 03/06/03 in many cases. 

6. Processing of amendments on priority goods in transit.

Re-negotiation of contracts for priority goods identified as shippable by 3 June and submission of appropriate amendments to OIP, as a first steps towards the actual shipment and delivery of priority goods to alternative locations outside Iraq, continued at an increased pace. While the total number of contracts with priority goods shippable by 3 June 2003 stands at 372, the Office of the Iraq Programme has received from the UN agencies and programmes a total of 266 amendments for such contracts so far, or about 75 per cent of the expected number.  

Table 3 shows submission of amendments per UN agency and programme as at 19 May 2003, and table 4 shows progress in submission of amendments for contracts with priority goods confirmed as shippable by 3 June 2003. The total value of the contracts was reduced by some $53 million as a result of these amendments, mainly due to the change in transport and insurance costs to the suppliers but also through reduction of quantities to be delivered in some cases. The net cost to the escrow account, however, will ultimately have to include storing of the goods to be received in alternative locations and transport of these goods to Iraq. 

Table 3: Submission and status of amendments on contracts containing priority goods (as at 19 May 2003) 

 Table 4: Progress in submission of amendments from 21 April 2003 to 19 May 2003 

 7. Deliveries to alternative locations.

The UN independent inspection agents (Cotecna) have presence in the ports in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait and have started authentication of goods received by the UN agencies and programmes both under ESC (13 per cent) and ESB (59 per cent) accounts, based on advice from the UN agencies and programmes on arrivals. The authentication is often not immediately after the arrival of goods, as Cotecna inspectors are not always based at the very discharge/storage points. The UN agencies and programmes have been advised to notify OIP of the arrivals as early as possible, so that Cotecna inspectors can be dispatched to appropriate locations and authenticate the goods. Based on the information available to OIP as at 19 May 2003, various consignments of food under ESB (59 per cent) account totaling 274,000 metric tons of food, as well as two consignments of electricity sector supplies have arrived to alternative locations.

 8. Delivery of goods to Iraq.

            The delivery to Iraq of ESB (59 per cent) account goods discharged at alternative locations outside Iraq continues, with over 21,000 metric tones wheat/flour and rice already delivered to locations in Baghdad, Hilla, Basrah and Nasiriyah.  

9. Deliveries of goods under 13 per cent account.

Deliveries of goods to Iraq under ESC (13 per cent) account have also continued, with over 18,000 metric tons of food delivered by 19 May 2003, not only to the three northern governorates that were the original recipients but also on a reimbursable basis to locations in Baghdad, Basrah, Nasiriya, Mosul and Kirkuk. The delivered goods included high-energy biscuits (HEB), pulses, rice, vegetable oil and sugar.  

10. Applications for emergency supplies outside the Programme.

Paragraph 7 of resolution 1472 (2003) provides for fast-track approval of contracts for emergency supplies outside the Programme, which remain subject to sanctions provision. The number of such applications has increased further and stands at 176 as at 19 May 2003 or 5 more than reported in the last update.  Most of the applications (130) have been submitted by the UN agencies and programmes and other international organizations, to include UNICEF (60), WFP (45), ICRC/IFRC (12) and WHO (10). The remaining 43 have been submitted by various permanent missions on behalf of NGOs, to include USA (15),  France (11), UK (10) and Belgium (6).

Implementation Update-8 May 2003

Implementation Update-21 April 2003

Implementation Update-8 April 2003