The assessment of Iraq’s rebuilding requirements and priorities began a few months before the October 2003 Madrid meeting when participants to a Technical Reconstruction meeting agreed to focus on priority sectors of the economy and several cross-cutting themes.

At this meeting held in New York on June 24, 2003, the United Nations Development Group and the World Bank commissioned a Joint Iraq Needs Assessment.
The assessment team—aided by the International Monetary Fund and other knowledgeable groups and individuals—targeted 14 sectors,
ranging from education and transportation to telecommunications & housing.

The assessment recommended investing some $36 billion in the targeted sectors over a four-year span.  It also identified other ailing sectors—among them the oil industry, once a source of vast revenue—that could be much improved with an additional $20 billion.

Access the Joint Iraq Needs Assessment