Maliki, Putin agreed to re-activate pre-2003 contracts – Russian minister

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed during their meeting on Friday to re-activate contracts that had been concluded between the two sides prior to the 2003 war, according to the Russian minister of energy. “The contracts signed between Russian and Iraqi companies before the war were agreed to be activated, which is a huge step,” said Sergey Shmatko in a press conference held during the Maliki-Putin meeting today (April 10). Maliki met the Russian prime minister during his second day of his official visit to Russia, where he arrived on Thursday. The visit, upon an invitation from Putin, is planned to run until April 11. Maliki said the Russian companies boast great experience in cooperation with Iraq, adding Baghdad is calling for expanding the presence of Russian firms on the Iraqi market. For his part, Putin said Iraq is an old honest partner of Russia. “We have historical relations and we have done much in previous contracts,” said the Russian premier, noting his country is interested in having a flourishing, independent, powerful and unified Iraq. Maliki is scheduled to meet today (April 10) in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on means to cement Iraqi-Russian ties in all fields. Maliki is leading a high-level Iraqi delegation to Moscow as part of a tour that also takes him to Paris and London. Earlier, Iraqi legislator Sami al-Askari told IraqiNews.com that accompanying the prime minister on his foreign tour is a delegation comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and electricity as well as a delegation from the Iraqi ministry of oil. A Kremlin source said the first visit by Prime Minister Maliki to Moscow ushers in a new chapter of the means to push forward friendly and fruitful relations between Russia and Iraq. For his part, a Russian government source had said the Putin-Maliki talks on Friday will deal with Russian-Iraqi cooperation in the field of oil and gas as well as the situation in the Middle East region. “The two sides will exchange views on means to further economic and investment cooperation between Russia and Iraq, with special focus on Russian firms’ participation in the electricity and oil & gas fields and other Iraqi economic sectors,” the source told the Russian news agency Novosti. AmR (S) 1