Iraqi agreements with Ankara, Amman calls for lifting the sanctions
Iraq-Turkey, Politics, 7/27/2001

The Iraqi President on Wednesday appointed the minister of military industry Abdul al-Tawab al-Mulla Hweish as a deputy prime minister, together with his post as responsible for the military industry.

This is, however, the second decision following the decision according to which he appointed on July 5th the chairman of the Presidency court Ahmad Hussein Khudeir also a deputy for the prime minister. Therefore the Iraqi president, in his capacity as a prime minister, has five deputies. They are Hweish,Khudeir, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Tareq Aziz and the finance minister Hikmat al-Azzawi.

In Ankara, the Iraqi minister of oil Amer Rashid said on Wednesday that Baghdad and Ankara are planning to open a second border point within one year from now in order to reactivate bilateral trade relations.

In an interview with the Turkish NTF news network on Wednesday Amer added " our aim is to open this border point during one year from now." He added:" we have taken all necessary administrative measures and we do not expect any obstacles." Rashid continued that " number of lorries and cars which will cross the borders will be thousands and the second border point will be a second infrastructure that will help the border trade between the two countries.

Rashid continued that Iraq and Turkey agreed to start a project to erect a pipe for natural gas linking the two countries very soon, noting that this project will be implemented very soon.

In 1997, both Iraq and Turkey signed an agreement stated to extend a pipeline to transport natural gas from Iraq to Turkey of 1380 Km length with a total cost of USD 2,5 billion in order to transport natural gas to Turkey.

In Amman, the Jordanian prime minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb on Wednesday called for lifting the siege imposed on Iraq since 11 years " and to put an end to the sufferings of the Iraqis." During his meeting on Wednesday with the secretary of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad Adnan Bin hamad, the Jordanian official called for maintaining a dialogue between Iraq and the UN in order to lift this siege.

Previous Stories:
  Turkish- Iraqi relations   (6/9/2001)
  Turkish army incursion into the Iraqi territories   (5/26/2001)
  Iraqi, Turkish trade to be raised   (5/8/2001)

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