Baghdad is eager to revive its good relations with Helsinki, Iraqi parliament speaker Saadun Hammadi told the head of a visiting Finnish parliamentary delegation on Monday, September 3.
The official Iraqi News Agency quoted Hammadi as telling Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, deputy speaker of the Finnish parliament, that his country wanted to reactivate good relations stalled by the embargo imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990. Hammadi informed Anttila of the negative effects of the ongoing UN embargo on Iraq's economy, INA said.
A group of Finnish businessmen visited Baghdad in March 2000 to explore business opportunities with Iraq, a major oil producer whose economy has been crippled by the stringent 11-year-old UN sanctions regime.
Among that delegation were representatives from several Finnish companies, including energy firm Fortum, Waertsilae NSD (generators), Konecranes (cranes) and Instrumentarium (medical equipment). Iraq was Finland's major Gulf trading partner before the 1991 Gulf war over Kuwait. –(AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
