10.2 |
Reconstruction: July 2004 to July 2009
835.
After
Mr Brown returned from Iraq, his Private Secretary
commissioned advice
from the
Cabinet Office on:
•
how best to
support a Basra Investment Forum;
•
securing
greater UK resources for the effort on reconstruction and
economic
development;
•
whether the
UK should do more to support the clear-up of Umm Qasr
port;
•
how best to
maximise pressure on Iraqi political leaders; and
•
how the UK
could offer troops in theatre better access to the
internet.484
836.
Ms Kathleen
Reid, Head of the DFID Office in Basra from August 2007
to
September
2008, reflected on the impact of Mr Brown’s visit in her
evidence to the
Inquiry:
“When he
[Mr Brown] came in October 2007, to be honest, we were doing
quite a
few of
those things, or struggling away at trying to do a lot of those
economic things.
Things like
the Basra Investment Promotion Agency was something we would
have
been
working on well before he came and visited. Likewise trying to
establish the
Basra
Development Fund, some discussions around Iraq/Kuwait borders. But
…
there just
wasn’t necessarily the environment to be able to do that or the
impetus
behind it,
and I think he came and gave far more impetus to that. We put
more
resources
towards it, and … with the … changing security in the following
months,
it gave
more opportunity to then really deliver some results on the
ground.” 485
837.
Ms Reid also
told the Inquiry:
“Each
successive visit from Ministers, from Prime Ministers … gave us
more clarity,
certainly
in terms of timelines.
“When I
arrived [in August 2007], there was no real sense of [whether] the
PRT
was going
to be there for another six months or four years, and that became
much
clearer as
time went on and allowed us to do, on the civilian side, our
planning.” 486
838.
Prime Minister
Maliki replied to Mr Brown’s letter of 29 July on 7
October.487
He welcomed
the UK’s interest in supporting private sector development in Iraq
and
expressed
particular interest in working with the UK in the oil sector, and
specifically on
infrastructure
repairs, installation development, and the development of an
integrated
energy
strategy.
839.
NSID(OD) met
for the first time on 8 October.488
484
Letter
Fletcher to Forber, 3 October 2007, ‘Prime Minister’s Visit to
Iraq, 2 October’.
485
Public
hearing, 24 June 2010, pages 13-14.
486
Public
hearing, 24 June 2010, page 13.
487
Letter
Maliki to Brown, 7 October 2007, [untitled].
488
Minute
Cabinet Office [junior official] to Prime Minister, 5 October 2007,
‘NSID(OD) Iraq Meeting –
Steering
Brief: Monday 8 October 09:30’.
331