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Iraqi Vice President Flies to India for Official Visit
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan flew to India on November 26, becoming the highest ranking Iraqi official to travel abroad by plane since 1990.
Ramadan followed the heels of Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, who flew to Damascus, Syria, on Saturday en route to Beijing, China. Aziz was the first Iraqi official to make a flight abroad in 10 years.
Ramadan said before departure that his visit is expected to boost the relations with India in various fields and that the two countries will sign an agreement on trade, science and culture, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The Iraqi vice president expressed appreciation for the development in the Iraqi-Indian ties in recent years after the Joint Iraqi-Indian Cooperation Committee started its work in 1998, INA said.
Ramadan will brief Indian leaders on the violations of the Iraqi airspace by US and British warplanes, as well as the consequences of the decade-old "unjust" U.N. sanctions on Iraq, it added.
US and British warplanes have been patrolling the Iraqi airspace since they imposed two no-fly zones after the 1991 Gulf War to allegedly protect the Kurds in the north and the Shi'ite Muslims in the south from possible attacks by Iraqi troops.
Moreover, the US and Britain have been the major force behind the continuation of the sanctions on Iraq, triggered by its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
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