MADRID, 25 October 2003 — An international donors conference for Iraqi reconstruction ended yesterday with pledges totaling more than $33 billion, the host government said.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio called the two-day session “a great success,” despite concerns in some quarters that much of the money would come in the form of loans to an already heavily indebted country.

Japan unveiled an aid package worth $5 billion over four years, making it the second-largest contributor after the United States. Iraq’s Gulf neighbors also unveiled assistance packages worth more than $3 billion and promises of oil cooperation.

The biggest came from Saudi Arabia which pledged $1 billion, while former foe Kuwait unveiled a 1.5-billion-dollar package, one billion of which has already been spent.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not and will not spare any effort to help Iraq,” the foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, told the donors conference.

Prince Saud said the $500 million loan from the Saudi Development Fund, a government agency, would finance projects in education, health, infrastructure, housing and environment through 2007. The other $500 million would go to financing and guarantees for Saudi exports to Iraq.

He also said the Saudi government has already given $60 million in humanitarian aid since the end of military operations in Iraq.

The Saudi foreign minister also said the Kingdom is ready to “reduce the burden of its debt” while consulting with other creditors based on the principle of burden sharing. He did not give specifics.

The United Arab Emirates pledged $250 million in humanitarian aid and infrastructure projects, and non-Arab Iran, another former foe, announced a credit facility and project financing worth $300 million, promising to share vital oil facilities with Iraq.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, pledged a maximum $9.25 billion in loans over five years.

Although it was short of the total estimated $56 billion needed over the next four years, UN officials said the most critical period — 2004 — was covered.

Iraqi officials also thanked the 77 countries that took part. “These have been two wonderful days in the life of Iraq and the world,” Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, told the closing session. “Iraqis are shedding tears. Humanity has stood beside them.”

Spanish Finance Minister Rodrigo Rato said the $33 billion total did not include export credits, technical assistance or other non-cash aid promised, ranging from tea from Sri Lanka to rice from Vietnam.

“This clearly indicates that there is a major commitment on the part of all countries present today, a commitment for the future of peaceful, democratic and prosperous future for Iraq,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pentagon’s number two official Paul Wolfowitz toured the country where fresh attacks killed an Iraqi and three more US soldiers.

The hawkish Wolfowitz, a driving force behind America’s presence in Iraq, started a four-day tour of the country, where US commanders warn they are facing a tougher fight on the ground and the US-sponsored interim Governing Council is demanding greater power from the coalition.

Two of the soldiers were killed when two mortar shells were fired at a US base in Samarra, 125 kilometers (78 miles) from Baghdad, also wounding four troops, said Major Josslyn Aberle of the Fourth Infantry Division.