Turkey Loses 80 Billion US Dollars Due to Sanctions on Iraq:Diplomat

Turkey has lost an estimated 80 billion US dollars because of the decade-old United Nations sanctions on Iraq, a Turkish embassy official of commerce told Xinhua on Monday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that the sanctions have not only cost Turkey dearly in its trade dealings with Iraq totaling some 35 billion dollars, but also in other sectors including the transit fees for Iraq's oil export through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

During 1992-96, Iraq's oil export through Ceyhan was halted and brought an annual loss of 300 million dollars to Turkey, the official said.

To make up the huge losses due to the sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Turkey has been taking measures, including holding commodity fairs in Iraq, to promote trade relations with it, he added.

As to the five-day Turkish Export Products Fair concluded on Friday, he said that it was "very successful" and that Turkey would hold another exhibition of medicine and medical equipment in the sanctions-hit country in September.

A total of 157 private companies participated in the fair on May 7-11, and this was the third in succession and the largest ever since Turkey began to hold trade fairs in Baghdad in 1998, the official said.

He expressed belief that holding trade fairs in Iraq "is the best way to promote Turkish products as well as bilateral economic and trade relations."

The official reiterated Turkey's target to increase bilateral trade volume to some 3 billion dollars a year, 500 million dollars more than the pre-Gulf War level.

Iraq was Turkey's top crude oil supplier and the third largest trade partner before the 1991 Gulf War.

Turkey has been stepping up efforts to improve relations, especially trade ties, with its oil-rich neighbor. The two have agreed to resume regular train services after a break of nearly 20 years and Turkey upgraded its diplomatic representation in January by appointing an ambassador to Iraq.

However, bilateral relations have been at a low ebb. Iraq has often criticized Turkey for its incursions into its north, and for allowing Western warplanes to use a base in southern Turkey to patrol northern Iraq.

Turkey was part of the U.S.-led multinational coalition force that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's invasion of the emirate in August 1990.






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