Egypt, Iraq Restore Diplomatic RelationsEgypt and Iraq have re-established diplomatic relations which were broken since the 1991 Gulf War, as Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iraq are standing, Radio Cairo reported on Wednesday.Moussa said on Tuesday in a statement that "the brotherly relations" between the two countries are growing, adding that the Egyptian attache d'affaires in Baghdad is acting at an ambassadorial level, the radio reported. He said Egypt is likely to increase its diplomats in Baghdad at any time, adding that mutual visits at the highest levels are expected to be seen. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Sunday morning received Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahaf, who arrived here late Saturday for a two-day visit. Al-Sahaf conveyed a message from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to Mubarak on the situation in the Middle East as well as issues of mutual interests, Cairo and Baghdad cut off diplomatic relations in 1991, when Egypt joined the United States-led alliance forces to end Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait. However, Egypt has regularly called for a lifting of the decade-old United Nations sanctions on Iraq imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Egypt is making efforts to develop economic relations with Iraq. Egyptian Public Enterprises Minister Mukhtar Khatab led a delegation representing 75 Egyptian companies last Wednesday to attend an international fair in Baghdad. The two countries have improved trade ties since the implementation of a memorandum of understanding on trade in 1996 when the UN launched the oil-for-food program which allows Iraq to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other necessities. Egypt has become Iraq's largest trade partner in the Arab world and the fifth largest in the world, after Russia, China, France and India. The trade volume between the two countries has amounted to around 1.5 billion $US. |
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