(AFP-Bagdad) - Algerian Trade Minister Murad Medelci expressed Tuesday his country's wish to strengthen economic cooperation with Iraq, during talks with officials here, the official INA news agency reported.
During a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Aziz, the Algerian minister expressed "the wish of his country to strengthen cooperation with Iraq and he expressed the solidarity of the government and the Algerian people with Iraq," said INA.
Medelci arrived Monday in Baghdad to preside over the joint commission on economic and trade cooperation. He also met other senior Iraqi officials, including Finance Minister Hekmat al-Assaui.
According to the director general of the Arab department of the Algerian foreign ministry, the size of contracts agreed between Iraq and Algerian companies in the UN oil-for-food programme stands at some $70 million.
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