New Delhi
11 July 2005
A committee of experts from India and Iraq will meet in New Delhi
soon to prepare the ground for the first-ever meeting of the two countries' joint
commission after the US-led invasion in 2003.
The joint commission is expected to meet before the year-end. Official sources said
there is also a possibility of the Iraqi foreign minister, Mr Hoshar Zebari, paying a visit
to India to kickstart bilateral ties.
A delegation from the Iraqi oil ministry is expected in New Delhi for taking part in a
training programme. Their tour will follow similar visits by Iraqi diplomats and pilots who
have undergone training in India.
The proposed bilateral contacts come in the wake of Mr Chinmaya R Gharekhan's four-
day visit to Baghdad earlier this year. Mr Gharekhan is Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's special envoy for west Asia.
Mr Gharekhan had met with the Iraqi premier and ministers of industry, oil, trade and
higher education. While India has offered to help in rebuilding Iraq, it is also seeking a
share of the multi-billion dollar reconstruction business.
New Delhi is also keen on engaging Baghdad by sending an ambassador there as early
as possible. Official sources said the new incumbent could take up his assignment soon
and an anouncement in this regard was likely.
The post has remained vacant for some time now although India has a Charge d'Affaires
there so that bilateral ties do not suffer. Iraq too is without an ambassador here and it is
likely to take an appropriate decision soon.
Besides helping to rebuild Iraq, India has also offered to contribute in the exercise of
drafting a new constitution. The Iraqi parliament has until August 15 to adopt it which will
then be put to a referendum by mid-October.
The India-Iraq joint commission is chaired on the Iraqi side by its oil minister. The joint
commission met last in 2002 in New Delhi when it discussed trade and commerce
besides cooperation in other areas.
Trade and economic relations between India and Iraq have traditionally been close. Iraq
was one of the major sources of India's oil imports. The new government in Baghdad
has indicated it wants to re-establish the thriving economic ties that prevailed before the
2003 US-led invasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment