A delegation of Palestinian businessmen is in Baghdad looking to sign contracts to sell Palestinian goods, the Palestinian minister for public works, Azzam al-Ahmad, said Tuesday.
"A delegation of 60 Palestinian businessmen and industrialists have contacted Iraqi officials with the aim of signing export contracts for Palestinian products to Iraq," said Ahmad.
"This conforms to the resolutions of the extraordinary Arab summit" held on October 21-22 in Cairo, said Ahmad, who is also Palestinian ambassador to Baghdad.
Arab leaders decided at the summit to open up Arab markets for Palestinian products and exempt them from taxes and custom duties.
The Palestinian delegation arrived in Baghdad on Sunday aboard a Palestinian Boeing 727 which also carried eight Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israeli forces to be hospitalized in Iraq.
The delegation will take part in Baghdad's international trade fair, which opens Wednesday with a total of 1,554 companies from 45 countries participating.
Ahmad, meanwhile, held talks with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz overnight during which the latter confirmed "Baghdad's support for the Intifada and the establishment of an independent state".
For his part, Ahmad reiterated "the Palestinian people's determination in continuing the Intifada until the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital", the official INA news agency reported -- BAGHDAD (AFP)
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