Russia offers to ease Iraq debt for oil contracts

[Judi Lynn]

Russia offers to ease Iraq debt for oil contracts
By David Filipov, Globe Staff, 12/23/2003

MOSCOW -- Russia is ready to forgive more than half of the $8 billion debt owed to it by Iraq in return for Baghdad's promise of favorable treatment for Russian oil companies as the country rebuilds, members of Iraq's Governing Council said yesterday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Abdel Aziz Al Hakim, the current head of the US-appointed council, said Putin made "a generous promise" to reduce Iraq's debt by 65 percent to $3.5 billion. In return, companies from Russia -- including oil firms that signed multibillion-dollar contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime -- would be welcome to invest and work in Iraq, Hakim said after the Kremlin meeting.

Russian officials suggested that the amount Moscow writes off would be closely linked to the access Russian companies receive to participate in Iraq's reconstruction -- especially Russian oil companies that owned the rights to develop Iraq's vast oil fields.

"Russia said it is willing to consider the write-off of the rest of the debt if it receives beneficial treatment in terms of oil contracts," said Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, a member of the first Iraqi delegation to visit Moscow since the US-led coalition toppled Hussein in April.
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http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2003/12/23/russia_offers_to_ease_iraq_debt_for_oil_contracts/

[GRClarkesq]

1. Covered here also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=281064