Saddam Calls for Enhanced Relations with VietnamIraqi President Saddam Hussein on Saturday called for the Joint Iraq-Vietnamese Cooperation Committee to work for enhanced relations between the two countries, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.Saddam made the call during his meeting with visiting Vietnamese Vice Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan and his accompanying delegation. Saddam stressed the depth of friendship between the two countries, INA reported without elaborating. For his part, the Vietnamese official criticized the almost daily airspace violations by the U.S. and British warplanes over northern and southern Iraq, and urged an early end to the decade- old sanctions. The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The U.S.-led coalition forces launched the six-week Gulf War in early 1991 to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. Earlier Saturday, the Vietnamese deputy prime minister held talks with Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who expressed the hope to achieve "strategic cooperation" with Vietnam. The Vietnamese official, heading a 100-member delegation, arrived here Friday evening in the first flight from Vietnam to Iraq in 10 years. Vietnam has been calling for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq and has become an important trade partner with the sanctions- hit country under the U.N. oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to export oil in return for imports of food, medicine and other necessities under U.N. supervision. |
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