» Home » Business News Iraq Directory Services Plans Subscription Contact us Site Map Help About Iraq Turkish banks to open in Iraq Ankara Iraq has agreed to give Turkish companies a share in its oil projects and has approved the opening of Turkish banks in the country, a senior official said here. Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen told Anatolia news agency that the two sides had agreed to start negotiations on joint oil production in oil fields in the region of Gharraf in southern Iraq. Tuzmen did not give other details about the planned joint venture, which was agreed during bilateral talks on economic cooperation in Ankara this week, attended by Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban. 'We also reached an agreement that will enable Turkish banks to open branches in Iraq,' Tuzmen said. Under the deal, two public banks - Ziraat and Vakif - will be initially allowed to open branches in Iraq, he said. Turkey is keen to boost economic co-operation with Iraq, one of its principal trade partners before the 1991 Gulf War, to make up for huge losses inflicted by the international trade sanctions that were slapped on its neighbour. Also high on the agenda of Ghadban talks in Ankara was the security of Turkish truck drivers, who have increasingly become the target of kidnappers and gunmen in Iraq. As a result many companies have been scared off from shipping goods to the war-torn country, but Ankara has vowed to pursue increased commercial co-operation with its neighbour. Russia, meanwhile, said it is ready to begin negotiations with Iraq on cancelling a significant amount of its multibillion dollar debt. 'We ... are prepared to have the debt significantly reduced and also to reach agreements on the repayment of the remaining part of the debt,' Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency. President Vladimir Putin said last year that Russia in principle would be willing to write off more than half of Iraq's $8 billion debt to Moscow through the Paris Club of creditor nations, an informal group of creditor governments from major industrialised countries. Fedotov said negotiations haven't yet begun. 'But we are willing to talk either with the existing Iraqi government or with the one to come to power via elections,' Fedotov said. Source : www.tradearabia.com © 2002-2004 Iraq Directory - All Rights Reserved