farmgirl
12-28-2003, 06:01 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&e=9&u=/afp/20031228/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_trade_gulf_turkey_031228164522
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites) is beginning free trade talks with its Gulf Arab neighbours after signing agreements to dismantle trade barriers with Turkey and Iran, the country's interim trade minister said.
"We've signed MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with Iran and with Turkey, and we are starting now with negotiations with the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)," Ali Allawi said in an interview with AFP on Sunday.
The GCC groups oil-rich Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Iraq is seeking to end years of economic isolation under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), who was deposed by invading US-led troops in April and whose regime was under tight UN sanctions for the past decade.
The MOU signed last month with Iran and Turkey call for rapid movement towards dismantling barriers and increasing the flow of investments and other contacts, Allawi said.
Iran and Turkey are probably the largest suppliers of consumer goods to the Iraqi economy while the Gulf states supply cars, the minister said.
In 1990 the United Nations (news - web sites) imposed sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. Under a separate UN Security Council resolution, Iraq was allowed to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods beginning in 1996.
With Saddam gone, Iraq seeks "to create the basis for a larger free trade area," Allawi said.
"The intention is to have Iraq be part of a large trading network that will be linked to dynamic markets especially through Turkey to Europe and through Iran to Central Asia and through the GCC countries to Asia and South Asia," he said.
On a visit to Tehran in November, top members of Iraq's Governing Council signed the MOU which committed the two former enemies to free trade, closer cooperation between their chambers of commerce, and the opening of Iranian trade missions in Baghdad and three other Iraqi cities.
Iran's Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari said that in six months Iranian trade had nearly doubled from the same period last year to 400 million dollars.
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites) is beginning free trade talks with its Gulf Arab neighbours after signing agreements to dismantle trade barriers with Turkey and Iran, the country's interim trade minister said.
"We've signed MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with Iran and with Turkey, and we are starting now with negotiations with the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)," Ali Allawi said in an interview with AFP on Sunday.
The GCC groups oil-rich Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Iraq is seeking to end years of economic isolation under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), who was deposed by invading US-led troops in April and whose regime was under tight UN sanctions for the past decade.
The MOU signed last month with Iran and Turkey call for rapid movement towards dismantling barriers and increasing the flow of investments and other contacts, Allawi said.
Iran and Turkey are probably the largest suppliers of consumer goods to the Iraqi economy while the Gulf states supply cars, the minister said.
In 1990 the United Nations (news - web sites) imposed sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. Under a separate UN Security Council resolution, Iraq was allowed to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods beginning in 1996.
With Saddam gone, Iraq seeks "to create the basis for a larger free trade area," Allawi said.
"The intention is to have Iraq be part of a large trading network that will be linked to dynamic markets especially through Turkey to Europe and through Iran to Central Asia and through the GCC countries to Asia and South Asia," he said.
On a visit to Tehran in November, top members of Iraq's Governing Council signed the MOU which committed the two former enemies to free trade, closer cooperation between their chambers of commerce, and the opening of Iranian trade missions in Baghdad and three other Iraqi cities.
Iran's Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari said that in six months Iranian trade had nearly doubled from the same period last year to 400 million dollars.