Yemen and Iraq held talks Monday, August 20, on the setting up of a free trade zone, during a visit to Yemen by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, an official source said.
"Prime Minister Abdul Kadir Bajammal and Ramadan examined the modalities of the establishment of a free trade zone during a meeting of the Iraqi-Yemen joint commission", an official Yemeni spokesman said. He said a committee of officials from the two countries had been set up to examine the project.
The two officials also discussed "bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, health, tourism and transport", the spokesman said. Bajammal told reporters after the meeting that a free trade agreement would broaden cooperation between the two countries and be part of wider efforts to create an Arab common market.
Iraq, which has been under an UN embargo since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, has signed free trade deals with Syria, Egypt and Tunisia, and is considering similar agreements with Jordan and Morocco.
Yemen, which had been accused of taking a pro-Iraqi stance during the 1991 Gulf war, has since improved its relations with Kuwait and the other Gulf countries. ― (AFP, Sanaa)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
