Iraq leverages the few options it has in foreign relations

Iraqi trade minister Mahdi Saleh has asserted that his country will be committed to its policy of purchasing foodstuffs from friendly countries which support the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq.

In a statement to the press in Baghdad, Saleh expected Iraq to be permitted to buy more than $3 billion worth of medicines and foodstuffs that have been approved for purchase according to the fourth phase of the United Nations oil-for-food accord.

Egypt and Jordan are some of the countries expected to benefit from future Iraqi purchases of pharmaceuticals as well as Syria which is in the process of reestablishing its relations with Iraq. Iraqi officials in the past commented that Jordan was taking advantage of Iraq's plight to extract low prices for the oil that Jordan imports from Iraq.

Syria has offered help during a trip by its minister of health who just concluded a tour of support to Iraq. Syrian Health Minister Eyad al-Shatti on Tuesday stressed that Syria is trying to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people, resulting from the sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1991.

In a predeparture statement he made in Baghdad at the conclusion of his three-day official visit to Iraq, during which he opened the Syrian-Iraqi medical week on Monday, al-Shatti stressed Syria's desire to provide all means to eliminate the suffering of the people of Iraq.

Iraq stated that it is reviewing its purchases of food and medicine from Australia in light of positioning its warships in the Gulf in support of US forces that were dispatched to the region during the last dispute between Iraq and the UN over weapons inspection.

By using the purchases allowed under the UN sanctions to gain maximum political and economic results, by giving these contracts to those that will benefit Iraq in its current situation, analysts say that Iraq is playing one of the few cards it has in its effort to lift the sanctions.