$400 million in Gulf contracts with in oil-for-food program

Iraqi Minister of Trade Mohammed Mahdi Saleh said that the Arab states accounted for 50% of the foreign trade volume for his country last year for the first time since 1990, adding that Iraq will seek to expanding the volume of its trade with the Arab states.

He also said all the Gulf states except Kuwait signed contracts with Iraq worth a total of nearly $400 million in the course of the oil-for-food program.