PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Undersecretary for Trade Grant Aldonas said Tuesday he expected the second batch of contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq to be opened up to all countries, not just U.S. firms.
Aldonas said the United States had sought not to discourage any country from bidding for sub-contracts for the first round of reconstruction contracts.
"There will be a second tranche of contracts, which I expect will be opened more broadly to all comers," he told the French-American press club in Paris.
The United States initially barred France and other countries that opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq from bidding on prime contracts for $18.6 billion in U.S.-funded Iraqi reconstruction projects.
President Bush on Jan. 13 said Canada could bid in a second round of these contracts and U.S. officials have said France, Germany, Russia, and perhaps all those who opposed the war, may soon be permitted to do so.
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