Iraq will go ahead with its plan to switch to the euro for its UN-authorized oil exports from November 1, Oil Minister Amer al-Rashid said Sunday.
"Iraq will start on November 1 to conclude its contracts in euros instead of dollars," Rashid said.
"France, Russia and China support Iraq's request, on which the UN Security Council is to announce its position next week," he said, quoted by the official news agency INA.
Baghdad decided at the end of September to switch to the euro for its foreign trade transactions, on the grounds that the US greenback was the currency of an enemy state.
The sanctions-hit country informed the United Nations on October 4 that the decision would apply from November 1 to oil exports, which are authorized under a UN humanitarian program.
But the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reported last Thursday that there was a "serious possibility" that Iraqi oil exports could be interrupted over Baghdad's plan.
The specialist newsletter said the United Nations had delayed deciding whether to approve Baghdad's instructions to its customers to pay for Iraqi oil in euros -- BAGHDAD (AFP)
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