Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassine Ramadan aims to shore up support for the Palestinian intifada and for opposition to UN sanctions against his country on his arrival in Algeria on Sunday October 28 for an official visit, Iraqi officials said.
He is to discuss "relations between Iraq and the UN Security Council and the support of the embargo, and insist upon the need for support for the Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation," the sources said.
Ramadan is also to discuss measures aimed at increasing trade between Iraq and Algeria and the possibility of establishing a free trade zone in the region. In July, Baghdad and Algiers signed trade contracts worth more than $0100 million (112 million euros), during the visit of an Algerian business delegation to the country.
Aiming to shed the isolation imposed on it by United Nations sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Iraq has signed numerous free trade accords with other countries in recent months, including Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia. — (AFP, Algiers)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
