Iraqi President Meets with German Officials

After meeting with several high-ranking German government officials on Thursday, Iraqi President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told reporters he had received "positive answers" to many of his most important questions, particularly those concerning debt relief.

For the president of a country saddled with €100 billion ($120 billion) in debt, €5.3 million of which is owed to Germany, that's good news. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said Germany would -- along with the so-called Paris Club, a group of nations to whom Iraq is indebted -- work to "substantially" reduce Iraqi debt. However, he did not give details or name an exact figure.

German President Horst Köhler echoed the chancellor's desire to see Iraq get back on its feet with German help. "Germany can and should use its influence in the international community to help bring about debt relief," he told reporters after his meeting with Yawer.

Re-establishing relations

A few weeks ago, Germany and Iraq re-established a diplomatic relationship that went sour during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

As his country's new ambassador to Iraq, Germany's Bernd Erbel presented Yawer his portfolio, and his counterpart, Alla Abdul Madshid Hussein al-Hashimi, did the same in Berlin. The diplomatic niceties were a necessity ahead of Yawer's visit to Berlin, the first since he became Iraq's first postwar president in June.

German police, companies in Iraq -- but not troops

For some time now, Schröder and his deputies have shown an interest in closer cooperation with the new government in Iraq. The work German police have been doing in the United Arab Emirates training the new Iraqi police force is just one example. German firms like Siemens and Deutsche Telekom are also working on rebuilding the infrastructure as subcontractors to American companies.

What's more, Germany has pledged more than €100 million to help rebuild, half of that through EU funds. And the government pledged an additional €5 million to help the United Nations' work in the war-torn country.

But the German government has, until now, left it at that. Talk of sending German troops to the region has been routinely rejected by government leaders. Even US Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded that Germany would not send troops to help the overstretched multinational force in the country.

"We … will engage ourselves within the realm of our possibilities," said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. After meeting with Yawer, Germany's minister for development, Heidemarie Wiecorek-Zeul, echoed the sentiment, stating that it would be difficult to send personal -- even development workers, "given the extremely dangerous security situation."

Getting more German companies to invest

Immediately following the end of major combat operations, German, as well as French, companies were shut out of bidding for major reconstruction contracts because of their government's opposition to the war. Though Washington has since changed its tune, only 60 German companies have struck up business again, one-third of which were active in Iraq before the coalition invasion in March 2003.

Chief among the concerns is security as well as confusion over what sort of business legislation is currently in place. In the past, German firms investing in foreign countries have been emboldened by export insurance from the government, so-called Hermes guarantees, named after the agency that provides them.

The government hasn't extended any guarantees so far. A German-Iraq chamber of commerce, which could be used to better facilitate business contacts, is still nonexistent.