Jordan renews trade protocol with Iraq

Jordan and Iraq today renewed a trade protocol for 1999, but with a reduction of one fifth of its value from the figures of 1998 to US $200 million due to the international reduction in oil prices.

Well-informed sources in Amman said that the ceiling of the protocol was reduced, at the request of Jordan, from US $255 in 1998 to US $200 million for this year due to the recession in oil prices.

The agreement was signed by Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi al-Saleh, and his Jordanian counterpart, Muhammad Saleh al-Hourani, on Friday in Baghdad at the conclusion of the meetings of the two countries' joint economic committee.