Lawmaker urges China to write off Iraq’s debts

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi lawmaker on Monday called on China to cancel the debts owed by Iraq to it and to contribute to investment projects in the country. “China has been delaying the cancellation of Iraqi debts until the departure of the United States from the country…,” MP Sami al-Atroushi from the Kurdistan Islamic Union told IraqiNews.com news agency. On Sunday (Jan. 31), the Iraqi minister of finance, Baqir al-Zubeidi, discussed with the Chinese ambassador to the country, Chang Yi, a bilateral agreement signed in Beijing to cancel 80 percent of the debts owed by Iraq to China, totaling $8.5 billion U.S. dollars. The envoy expressed the Chinese State Council’s approval of the agreement. SS (P) 2