» Home » Business News Iraq Directory Services Plans Subscription Contact us Site Map Help About Iraq Romania seeks Iraq business Romania may try to recover some of the $2.6 billion in Communist-era debt owed by Iraq by getting Baghdad to use the money to help Romanian companies do business in Iraq, Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu said. Iraq ran up most of the debt in the 1970s and 80s when it was Bucharest's eighth largest trading partner. Romania, one of Europe's poorest countries, has rejected calls from the Paris Club of creditor nations to write off the debts. But Ungureanu said Romania was willing to be flexible about how Iraq returned the money and was not looking for immediate repayment from a country still grappling with the aftermath of the invasion in 2003. "We're not trying to take the money out in bulk but gradually," Ungureanu said in an interview. "If there is a possibility of creating an investment fund that would help major Romanian companies to invest in the Iraqi economy...it would help us a lot." He gave no details of how such an arrangement would work. Romania was a staunch supporter of the war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and sent about 700 troops to back US-led forces. A handful of Romanian companies are involved in reconstruction work in Iraq as subcontractors. The Paris Club has agreed to write off 80 per cent of the $38.9 billion Baghdad owed its members in a three-stage process and has called on non-members like Romania to follow suit. But Romania says it wants to try to recover the money owed for equipment and investment in the oil and petrochemical sectors during Saddam's rule. Romanian officials have said the principal owed by Iraq alone amounts to $1.8 billion. Thousands of Romanians went to Iraq to work at construction sites, power plants and refineries until communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in 1989. Romania's finance minister met his Iraqi counterpart in Bucharest in December to negotiate a solution. Romania's government has since changed and Iraq held elections last month. Ungureanu said more talks were needed to reach an agreement. "We're waiting for a bilateral answer from the Iraqis, we had a round of negotiations in mid December 2004 and we have decided that the experts meet and find a solution," he said. Ungureanu, a 36-year-old Oxford-educated historian appointed foreign minister by the centrist alliance that won November's elections, said Romania might ask for third party mediation if no agreement was possible. "It's easier for us... to start working first on a bilateral basis and see then, if it doesn't work, there might be another possibility, a chance of engaging a third party, such as the World Bank," he said. Trade Arabia © 2002-2004 Iraq Directory - All Rights Reserved