Interfax's Interview

Iraqi Oil Minister Husayn al-Shahristani, who is visiting Moscow, speaks to Interfax special correspondent Olga Golovanova on proposals for Russian-Iraqi cooperation in the oil industry

 Russian companies would be welcome to help rebuild the Iraqi economy, Iraqi Oil Minister Husayn al-Shahristani announced on Thursday.

 Shahristani told a news conference in Moscow that he said as much at a meeting with Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and senior figures in key Russian oil companies.

 At the meeting, willingness and hopes were expressed on the Russian side to take part in restoring Iraq's economy, especially its energy sector, Shahristani said.

 "I told the representatives of the Russian companies that are expressing a desire to work in Iraq that Iraq currently has an acute need for the development of its oil sector and tenders are open for participation by all world companies," he said.

 Purely technical criteria would underlie the selection of companies for Iraqi projects, Shahristani said. "No political or other criteria will affect the selection," he said.

 He denied that a decision by Russia as a member of the Paris Club of creditors to write off the Iraqi debt was linked to Russia's desire to take part in developing Iraqi oil fields or to any other issue.

 He also said the ongoing foreign military presence in Iraq had had no effect on the country’s current or planned oil production. He said all the areas of military action lay a long way from oil fields.

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