> >IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 126 >Monday September 25, 2000 > >LATEST++++++++++++++++ > >Iraq plans to maintain current oil output > >Nicosia--Sept. 25--Iraq plans to sustain its current oil production of >around three million barrels per day until early next year and then increase >throughput gradually to around 3.3-3.4 million bpd by spring 2001, Iraqi Oil >Minister Amer Rashid said in an exclusive interview with the Middle East >Economic Survey. > * >Rashid reiterated that if it were not for the holds placed by the U.S. on >contracts for oil equipment and supplies and the consequent delays in the >receipt of this equipment, the country would be producing approximately 3.4 >million bpd by now. When asked to comment on current speculation that Iraq >might halt or reduce oil production in order to enhance its bargaining >position with regard to the lifting of sanctions, Rashid answered: "One can >only speculate. But what matters is how any country, any competent >authority, will deal with events at the time," adding that Iraq is currently >following a maximum production policy. > >"But if we have difficulties, if we have shortages, if we see attacks >against us, then we have to adapt our production accordingly. There are >always possibilities. When asked what would happen in the event that there >are no major political upsets in the coming period, he replied: "I told you >our plan. Maximum production until year end, at least, and another >300,000-400,000 bpd later when the equipment arrives." > > >India for lifting sanctions against Iraq: Panja >DUBAI: India has called for immediate lifting of the United Nations >sanctions against Iraq, saying they had proved to be >counter-productive and affected the common man. > >''India has been and is against any type of sanctions and we tried >on our own to convince bilaterally and multilaterally, even at the >U.N. forums, that sanctions against Iraq must be lifted,'' Minister of State >for External Affairs Ajit Kumar Panja told Iraqi > vice-president Taha Yasin Ramadhan at a meeting in Baghdad on > Saturday evening. > > Describing his 35-minute meeting with the Iraqi leader as ''very > cordial,'' Panja told UNI on telephone from Baghdad that ''we have also >expressed our concern to the Iraqi vice president over the humanitarian >situation in Iraq, particularly the high mortality rate among women and >children.'' > > Panja, who arrived in the Iraqi capital on Saturday leading a strong Indian >delegation comprising officials and business representatives, held meetings >with Iraqi minister of trade Mehdi Mohammed Saleh and minister of industry >and minerals Adnan Abdul Majeed Jassim, besides the Iraqi president. He is >scheduled to meet Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, a close confidant >of president Saddam Hussein, and ministers of transport and communication, >agriculture, health and oil on Sunday. > > The Indian minister told his Iraqi interlocutors that New Delhi > supported Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. India >stood for regional stability of the Gulf, Panja said, describing the region >as ''an extended neighbourhood of India.'' > > He also clarified to the Iraqi leaders that India's relations with Israel >were not at the cost of New Delhi's ties with any other nation. > >India seeking larger chunk of Iraq's external trade >BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ A large Indian trade delegation is in Baghdad exploring >the possibility of firmer trade ties with Iraq, the official Iraqi News >Agency reported Sunday. >The group is led by Ajit Kumar Panja, India's minister of state for external >affairs, and includes businessmen from India's industrial, oil and >agricultural sectors, the agency added. >The visit is to assess progress the countries have made since signing a >cooperation protocol last year under which they pledged to multiply their >trade. Figures released by Iraq's Trade Ministry show that the value of >Indian exports to Iraq was in the range of dlrs 280 million during the >previous six-month phase of Iraq's U.N.-approved oil program. >Panja also met with Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid, who reaffirmed Iraq's >keenness to ``develop ties in the oil field,'' according to INA. >India's joint venture of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance >Petroleum is said to be nearing agreement with Iraq on the terms of a deal >to develop the southern Tuba oil field with estimated reserves of up to 3 >billion barrels. >The venture is also in talks to obtain an exploration block in Iraq's >western desert, occupying about one third of Iraq's 435,000-kilometer >(168,000-mile) area. Once fully explored, the desert is expected to >substantially raise Iraq's current proven oil reserves of 112 billion >barrels, the world's second largest, according to Oil Ministry officials. >Iraq is also said to be relying on Indian technology to upgrade the Rumeilah >fields in the south, which currently provide more than 1.5 million barrels a >day of Iraq's average daily output of 3 million barrels. >INA said the Indian delegation, which arrived Saturday, has signed a >memorandum of understanding with Iraq's Foreign Ministry for ``regular >consultations regarding international and regional issues of mutual >concern.'' > >Russian Plane Lands in Iraq Without U.N. OK Mideast: Flight carrying medical >supplies and mostly businessmen is the second one in 2 days to defy >sanctions. >From Associated Press. Iraqi officials welcomed a Russian plane >Saturday--the second aircraft to land in two days without U.N. clearance--as >evidence that the United Nations' decade-old trade sanctions were collapsing >despite U.S.and British objections. >The Tupolev-154 carrying 5 tons of medical supplies and 143 passengers, most >of them businessmen, landed in Baghdad after its crew informed the U.N. >sanctions committee in New York of its destination but did not wait for >authorization. >A French plane had arrived Friday carrying doctors, artists and athletes >opposed to the sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. >"These flights are an indication that both America and Britain have failed >in their attempts to isolate Iraq," said Abdul Razzaq Hashemi, a senior >member of Iraq's ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party. >"Iraq is very important. No one can ignore a country with potentials like >ours," he said. >The flights have so emboldened Iraq that Hashemi said the government will >reject future requests to fly to Baghdad, the capital, if organizers secure >U.N. permission beforehand. >The U.N. Security Council is divided on the flights to Iraq, with the United >States and Britain trying to prevent nations from punching holes in the >sanctions. Russia and France maintain that U.N. authorization is not >required for humanitarian aid flights. After Friday's flight, France's U.N. >ambassador, Jean-David Levitte, said "there will be other flights." State >Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the French flight a "blatant >violation" of sanctions and U.N. procedures. >The presence of business executives on the Russian plane conflicted with the >flight's declared humanitarian mission. The executives were led by Yuri K. >Shafranik, the president of Russia's Central Fuel Co. and a former energy >minister. >Other Russians on the plane were artists and athletes. The French plane also >carried entertainers. >The U.S. and Britain vehemently oppose a resumption of passenger flights, >saying they would be an economic resource and therefore a breach of the >sanctions. >U.N. resolutions require the sanctions to remain in place until Iraq >complies with demands to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction. > >Iraq, Syria set to expand trade ties >BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ A Syrian Cabinet minister is in Baghdad for talks to >increase the volume of Syrian exports to Iraq, the official Iraqi News >Agency reported Sunday. >Syrian Minister of Industry Ahmed Hamo, who arrived here Saturday, held >discussions with Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh and the two vowed >to boost bilateral trade, the official agency said. >``Iraq is keen to expand trade with Syria,'' INA quoted Saleh as saying. >Hamo, whose visit comes one week after Saleh paid a similar trip to >Damascus, stressed that his country is willing to supply Iraq with the >medicines, foodstuffs and electrical appliances it needs. >INA said Hamo was quick to note that the trade exchange should be within the >terms of the U.N.-supervised oil-for-food program. > >India denounces US-British raids on Iraq: Baghdad >BAGHDAD, Sept 24 (AFP) - Ajit Kumar Panja, India's minister of state for >external affairs, met here Sunday with President Saddam Hussein and >denounced the nearly daily US and British raids on Iraq, the official INA >news agency said. > >"Mr. Panja expressed his country's rejection of the embargo imposed on Iraq >and the American-British raids against the Iraqi people," INA said. > >The minister also gave Saddam a message from Indian Prime Minister Atal >Behari Vajpayee expressing "New Delhi's desire to bolster relations with >Iraq in the political, economic and cultural arenas," the agency said. > >Panja has been in Iraq since Friday to head a commercial delegation and >talked to Baghdad officials about possible sales of Indian parts to repair >Iraq's oil and electric installations. > >India has more than 150 contracts with Iraq valuing more than 280 million >dollars as part of the UN-sponsored "oil-for-food" program. > >India's major exports to Iraq include oil industry equipment and food, >pharmacutical and electric products. > > >Iraq to purchase Airbus aircraft, foreign flights to Baghdad to be resumed >Text of report by Iraqi newspaper 'Al-Zawra' on 21st September > >Jamil Ibrahim, senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, >has said that Iran is using the Iraqi planes, which it seized after the >30-nation aggression was launched against Iraq in 1991, in domestic flights. >He said that this was a violation of international conventions and norms. He >added that Iraq had frequently requested Iran to submit clear information >about the planes through the Arab Civil Aviation Organization or the >International Civil Aviation Organization. However, Iran has not done so and >is refusing to return the planes to Iraq. > >Meanwhile, Capt Kamil al-Mashhadani, assistant director- general of >operations at Iraqi Airways, has said that Iraq is constantly doing >maintenance work on its four airliners which are kept in Tunisia and its six >other airliners which are kept in Jordan. However, our attempts to determine >the fate of our aircraft in Iran have not led to any fruitful results in >view of the Iranian position. He added that Iraq had resumed its talks with >the French side for the purchase of 20 Airbus aircraft. The talks were >suspended in 1990 and involved only five aircraft at that time. He explained >that there was an old agreement in principle with France for the purchase of >Airbus-320 and Airbus-330 aircraft, which are known for their high >technology. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Airbus company will arrive in >Iraq early next month to complete the measures needed in this connection. > >Capt al-Mashhadani also said that a Russian delegation representing Aeroflot >held talks in Baghdad last week on the resumption of civil flights to Iraq. >October was the date fixed for doing so at an average of one weekly flight >between Baghdad and Moscow. However, the number of the flights will be >increased in the future. An official of the Russian civil aviation said that >a Russian airliner would arrive in Iraq on Saturday [23rd September] and >would be followed six days later by a French airliner. > >Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Airlines has expressed its preparedness >to cooperate with Iraq. EgyptAir has also expressed the same preparedness. >Following the landing of Russian and French aircraft and the announcement of >a number of Arab airlines that they intended to operate flights to Iraq, >clear steps are being taken to break the illegal air embargo imposed by the >US and British administrations on Iraq for well over 10 years. > > >Syrian, Arab newspapers urge flights to Iraq >Text of report by Radio Monte Carlo on 23rd September > >The start of foreign flights to Baghdad airport encouraged some Arab >newspapers today to call, once again, for lifting the embargo on Iraq, >especially by the Arab countries, to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people. >The newspapers called for breaking Iraq's isolation. Official Syrian >newspaper `Al-Thawrah' described the first trip in 10 years from Paris to >Baghdad by a French plane as daring. It said Syria calls for ending the >suffering of Iraq. > >Jordanian newspapers appealed to the Arab countries to follow in the >footsteps of Russia and France to break the sanctions on Iraq. >Jordanian newspaper `Al-Dustur' asked in its front-page banner >headline: Where are the Arab planes? For their part, Iraqi newspapers >welcomed such trips. > >RELIGION SADDAM HUSSEIN HAS KORAN WRITTEN WITH HIS BLOOD >Baghdad, Sep 24 (EFE).- Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein has had a >copy of the Koran, Islam's holy book, written with his blood, the >local press reported Sunday. > >According to the reports, Arabic-script calligraphers took three >years to complete the transcription. The Iraqi leader commissioned the >project upon celebration of his 60th birthday in 1997, the papers said. "I >asked myself what exceptional act I could perform to express my gratitude to >the All-powerful," they quoted Hussein as saying by way of explanation. >Hussein, along with several members of his Cabinet, took part in a ceremony >presenting the book that was broadcast nationwide Saturday night. There was >no word on the quantity of blood donated by Hussein for >the transcription. > >Iraq's Saddam meets Indian foreign minister >Iraqi President Saddam Husayn received India's minister of state for >external affairs Ajit Kumar Panja on Sunday, Iraqi radio reported. >It said Panja delivered a message from Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari >Vajpayee expressing India's desire to "strengthen and develop ties with Iraq >in the political, economic, and cultural fields". >Panja also conveyed Vajpayee's satisfaction with the progress of bilateral >ties, the radio said. > >Iraq: Military spokesman reports US-UK air raids on 23rd September >Text of report by Iraqi TV on 23rd September In an expression of their > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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