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Iraq, Malaysia Sign Joint Statement on Developing Ties
Iraq and Malaysia on Sunday signed a joint statement on developing bilateral cooperation, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The statement was signed by Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals Adnan Abd al-Majid al-Ani and visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
The statement touched upon the issues of expanding economic, trade, oil, agricultural, industrial, transportation and scientific cooperation between Iraq and Malaysia.
The next round of meetings of the Joint Iraqi-Malaysian Trade And Economic Committee will be held next year in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, the statement said.
The just-concluded fifth round of meetings has been very important in reactivating cooperation between the two countries, said the Iraqi minister.
The joint statement reflected the readiness and keenness of both Iraq and Malaysia to develop all-round ties, al-Ani added.
AlBar expressed belief that trade and economic ties between Iraq and Malaysia will soon witness major steps forward, terming the statement as "a true and significant step" to expand bilateral cooperation.
Declaring his visit to Baghdad "important and fruitful," he said it will surely push the bilateral relations to a new phase.
The joint statement followed Albar's meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Sunday.
During his meetings with Iraqi senior officials including Vice- President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Foreign Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf, AlBar called on the U.N. to "take serious and decisive efforts" to end the sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990.
He also called on the U.S. and Britain to abolish the two "illegal and unjustifiable no-fly zones" in northern and southern Iraq, set up after the 1991 Gulf War.
AlBar, heading an economic and trade delegation, arrived in the Iraqi capital on Friday to attend the meetings of the Joint Iraqi-Malaysian Trade And Economic Committee. The last round was held in Baghdad in 1989.
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