Syrian prime minister meets with Iraqi minister

Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro on Monday in damascus received Iraq's minister of trade Muhammad Mahdi Saleh and members of the accompanying delegation.

Present at the meeting were the deputy premier for economic affairs Khaled Raad, the chairman of the federation of the Syrian chambers of commerce Rateb al-Shallah and the secretary of the federation of the Syrian chambers of commerce Abdul Rahman al-Attar.

Talks dealt with relations of trade exchange between the two countries in the framework of the oil for food agreement.

In the evening the Iraqi minister discussed with Dr. al-Shallah means of increasing Syrian exports to Iraq in the framework of the oil for food memorandum of understanding and to eliminate obstacles facing Syrian exporters to Iraq.

The Iraqi minister explained that the border measures recently taken by the Iraqi government to put an end the smuggling operation will not affect the Syrian products which flow to Iraq regularly. He described the Syrian products as competitive and of a high quality. He expected that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries will increase according to the said formula.

The Iraqi minister also indicated Iraq's interest to facilitate trade exchange at the level of the private sector in the local market according to article 20 of decision 687 provides for exporting various commodities to Iraq, outside the framework of the memorandum of understanding as well as reactivating and expanding the two countries participation in specialized in specialized exhibitions and in at Damascus and Baghdad International Fairs.