Iraq, UN Agree to Extend Oil ProgramIraq and the United Nations agreed on Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) extending the oil-for-food program that allows Iraq to export oil, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said."The memorandum of understanding with Iraq governing the oil- for-food program is being extended for another (phase) following agreement reached this morning between Iraq and the UN Secretariat on the text of the MOU," Eckhard said. An exchange of letters later Monday will finalize the agreement to extend the MOU, he said. This is the 10th phase of the oil program that began in December 1996 when Iraq and the United Nations reached an agreement to sell oil under U.N. supervision as a way to buy food and medicines for its people and repay Gulf War victims, particularly Kuwaitis. In the 9th phase of program, which ended on June 3, Iraq waited two weeks after the Security Council approval before starting exports. And once it began exports in mid-December last year, it took six weeks to reach as high as 1.9 million barrel per day (bpd) and three months before topping 2 million bpd. Last week, the Security Council voted unanimously to keep the oil program unchanged with the new phase running from July 4 to November 30. In early June, Baghdad suspended its oil exports to protest a British-U.S. proposal to revise the sanction regime, saying that the proposal is offered under the pretext of humanitarian concerns but its real aim is to worsen the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The effort was shot down by Russia, which threatened a veto in the U.N. Security Council. Russia is one of the five permanent members which has veto power on the 15-nation council. |
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