Free Trade Zone Expected to Boost Egypt-Iraq Trade VolumeEgyptian-Iraqi trade volume is expected to hit over US$2 billion in 2001 with the creation of a free trade zone under an agreement signed in January, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Salah said here Tuesday.Salah, who arrived here in the day for a five-day visit, said that Egypt's exports to Iraq reached 1.2 billion dollars in 2000, triple the 1999 figure, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. During his visit, Salah will meet Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid to discuss the details of activating the free trade agreement. The two sides were also expected to set a new date for an Egyptian trade delegation, led by Economy Minister Youssef Ghali, to visit Baghdad. The delegation had been scheduled to visit Iraq last Friday but the trip was delayed. Iraq severed its ties with Egypt in the 1991 Gulf War after Cairo joined the US-led multi-national force which ejected Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Egyptian diplomatic mission in Iraq was upgraded to the level of charge d'affaires last November to replace the interests section. 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 export oil in return for vital imports of food, medicine and other necessities for its people living under UN sanctions following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. 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. Salah said that he will also attend the Arab League Economic and Social Council meeting due to open Wednesday, during which he would call on all Arab countries to sign free trade agreements with Iraq. Trade between Iraq and Arab countries stood at 6.2 billion dollars in 2000, accounting for 47 percent of Iraq's foreign trade. |
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