Emaar projects in exchange for oil .. joint agreements between Egypt and Iraq

The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi announced, yesterday, Saturday, that Iraq and Egypt signed 15 memoranda of understanding and a program of cooperation in various fields, in an official ceremony that took place in the presence of Al-Kazemi and the Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, where they signed the minutes of the Iraqi-Egyptian Joint Higher Committee.

The official ceremony included the signing of several memoranda of understanding, a program of cooperation and protocols in the fields of transportation, water resources, health, environment, justice, investment, housing, construction, industry, trade and finance.

The Iraqi Prime Minister and his Egyptian counterpart had held talks - in the presence of the delegations of the Iraqi and Egyptian governments - regarding the work of the joint Iraqi-Egyptian higher committee.

At the outset of the talks, Al-Kazemi praised the fraternal relations between the two countries, and Iraq's desire to develop them to the level of strategic relations that serve the interests of the two countries. He also praised Egypt's position in support of Iraq in its war against ISIS.

According to a statement by the Egyptian Cabinet, Madbouly said in his speech at the main session of the committee, "There is an initial agreement between the two countries on the speed of activating the oil-for-reconstruction mechanism," and he indicated that the Egyptian companies would implement development projects in Iraq in return for the quantities of oil that Egypt would import.

The infrastructure in Iraq has been severely damaged as a result of decades of wars and blockades, as Baghdad seeks to attract investments to the reconstruction sector, but security concerns remain an obsession for many investors.

After the war against the Islamic State ended in 2017, Baghdad said it needed $ 88 billion to rebuild what the war against the group had destroyed.

According to previous statements by the Oil Ministry spokesman, Asim Jihad, Iraq exports 12 million barrels of crude oil annually to Egypt.

The joint Iraqi-Egyptian Higher Committee had begun its preparatory work in the capital, Baghdad, on Wednesday, October 28, with the participation of a number of ministers from the two countries in the sectors under discussion and cooperation.