ANKARA, 7 November 2004 — 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 yesterday.
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 told Anatolia. 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 cooperation 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 neighbor.
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.
