Iraq to Continue Confrontation With US: Vice President

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 15, 2002

Iraq to Continue Confrontation With US: Vice President

Iraq will continue its confrontation with the United States until victory is achieved, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Thursday.

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Iraq will continue its confrontation with the United States until victory is achieved, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Thursday.

"Iraq refuses to be a satellite of the U.S. and will continue to confront with the U.S. until victory is achieved," Ramadan was quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) as saying during his meeting with visiting Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh.

Ramadan expressed appreciation for the stance of the Vietnamese government which has been calling for lifting the sanctions on Iraq, adding that Vietnam holds the first place with whom Iraq wants to develop relations.

Iraq has been under stringent United Nations sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

For her part, Nguyen Thi Binh voiced Vietnam's opposition of all hostile acts against Iraq and said Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected.

Moreover, "The visit is to express solidarity and support for the struggle of the Iraqi people," she was quoted as saying.

The Vietnamese vice president, heading a large delegation, arrived in the Iraqi capital earlier Thursday for a four-day visit.

After arrival at Baghdad's Saddam International Airport, Nguyen Thi Binh said Vietnam hopes to strengthen economic and trade relations with Iraq as the cooperation between the two countries has been moving continuously.

Ramadan received the Vietnamese official at the airport and expressed Iraq's keenness to boost ties with Vietnam to serve bilateral interests.

Ramadan has said that Iraq wants to promote trade with Vietnam through the United Nations oil-for-food program, which has been in place since 1996 and allows sanctions-hit Iraq to sell oil and buy food, medicine and other essentials for its 22 million people.

"Directives have been given to ministries to grant priority to Vietnamese companies for contracts signed within the framework of the U.N. oil-for-food deal," said Ramadan while meeting with Hao Thi Cao, head of a Vietnam's state-owned food company in January.

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