$ 6 billion, the volume of Iraqi- Arab trade

The Iraqi trade minister Muhammad Mahdi Saleh has stated that the volume of Arab trade with his country registered in the year 2000 $ 6 billion, representing 47% of the total Iraqi foreign trade. He added that his country will sign an agreement with Jordan to establish a free trade zone similar to that signed with each of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Saleh, who was visiting Cairo to take part in the meetings of the Arab social and economic council revealed that there are contacts with the United Arab Emirates to sign a similar agreement. He considered that the free trade agreement zone with Egypt is a corner-stone for the common market. He indicated that his talks with the Egyptian officials will deal with increasing the volume of trade exchange and to work for increasing it to USD one billion with Egypt.