RIYADH, 13 November 2002 — Saudi businessmen who made a landmark visit to Baghdad earlier this month secured contracts worth $380 million with the Iraqi government, a top Saudi businessman told Al-Jazirah newspaper yesterday.
The contracts will be signed as soon as the United Nations endorses them under the oil-for-food program, Abdulrahman Al-Zamil, chairman of the Saudi Export Development Center and head of the trade team, told the paper.
The 80-member delegation returned to the Kingdom on Nov. 4 after a five-day visit to Baghdad through Arar, the main Saudi-Iraqi border and customs post which was reopened on Friday after 12 years of closure.
Al- Zamil, a member of the Shoura Council, said that Iraqi Vice President Ezzat Ibrahim issued instructions to provide favorable treatment for Saudi businessmen bidding for contracts in Iraq.
During the visit, the first by a Saudi trade team since the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi authorities agreed to register 95 Saudi industrial and trade firms, qualifying them to send their exports to Baghdad. Iraq and Saudi Arabia, whose diplomatic relations have been cut since the Gulf conflict, initiated a rapprochement during an Arab summit in Beirut last March.
Al- Zamil said he expected the opening of the Arar border point to boost Saudi exports to Iraq, and urged other Gulf exporters to use the border crossing to save time and money.
Saudi exports to Iraq under the oil-for-food program have previously been sent through Jordan. According to official figures, Baghdad has imported nearly $1 billion worth of goods from Saudi Arabia under the program.
