Iraqi and Qatari government officials recently met to discuss a future bilateral free trade accord, reported the official QNA news agency. Qatari Finance Minister Yussif Hassan Kamal and Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Saleh also discussed the possibility of setting up a business council to boost trade between the two states.
Iraq is also currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Bahrain, to become effective by April 2002, reported Al-Rafidain. Iraq has already finalized an FTA with Yemen, which is expected to go into effect next month and has signed similar cooperative agreements with Syria and Tunisia with further deals planned with Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco.
Egypt and Iraq recently signed an agreement for bilateral cooperation in industry, trade and technical issues, reinforcing their previously signed FTA. Egypt being Baghdad's third-largest trade partner after France and Russia, trade between the two countries within the UN's oil-for-food program stands at some two billion dollars a year. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
