ABU DHABI, 31 July 2004 — Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi held talks with Iraqi business leaders here yesterday and told them he had received full support for his interim government from his UAE hosts, a participant said.
“The prime minister is very pleased with the outcome of his meetings with top United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials ... The UAE assured him of its full support to Iraq in all matters — security, economic and others,” said Talib Khan, chairman of the Iraqi Business Council in Abu Dhabi.
On Thursday, he met UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan, who assured him of Abu Dhabi’s “support for Iraq during the difficult circumstances it is experiencing,” according to the official WAM news agency. Allawi came here from Saudi Arabia, which pledged to deliver on a promise first made last October of $1 billion in aid for Iraq’s reconstruction.
