Jordanian ministers in Baghdad to boost trade

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) -- Two Jordanian cabinet ministers have arrived in Baghdad to discuss how to expand Jordanian exports under Iraq's oil-for-food deal with the United Nations, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

They said Jordan's Trade and Industry Minister Wasef Azzar and Transport Minister Mohammad Kalaldah would hold talks with Iraqi officials in the fields of commerce, oil, industry and transport.

"The visit aims at expanding trade ties with Iraq in all fields," the papers quoted Azzar as saying.

They said the Jordanians were received by Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh who said the volume of trade between the two neighbors had reached $1.4 billion since the beginning of the oil programme in December 1996.

The oil deal currently allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil to buy food, medicines and other humanitarian goods for the Iraqi people, battered by stringent U.N. sanctions imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

"Jordan will remain Iraq's main and important trade outlet," Saleh said.

Iraq was Jordan's biggest trading partner before the United Nations trade sanctions. Jordan's exports to Iraq under the oil programme are only a fraction of what they were before the sanctions were imposed.

The newly appointed Jordanian government recently put out feelers to Baghdad, hinting that it sought better ties after a number of misunderstandings over the last few years.

Despite the sanctions, Baghdad remains Jordan's main energy supplier as it delivers annually over $600 million worth of crude and products to the kingdom under undisclosed concessionary terms that ease the burden on the kingdom's deficit-ridden budget.

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan visited Jordan in July and held talks with Jordan's king Abdullah and Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb aimed at improving ties after years of gradual drift.

Jordan, sympathetic to Iraq in the 1990-91 Gulf crisis over Kuwait, turned against Baghdad in 1995 and gave shelter to senior Iraqi defectors. The late King Hussein then called for a change of administration in Iraq.

But in recent years Jordan has been an advocate of lifting the sanctions, which it says hurt only the Iraqi people.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For more Middle East news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

See related sites about Middle East

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.