Iraq has launched an initiative to establish a joint business council for economic cooperation with Kazakhstan - Ambassador

Iraq has launched an initiative to establish a joint business council for economic cooperation with Kazakhstan, said in an interview with Trend Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Iraq in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan Sabir Raja Abboud al-Moussaoui.

"Iraqi government came with the initiative to establish a "Kazakhstan - Iraq Business Council", which is to establish and strengthen cooperation between our countries. We have even chosen to co-chair of the Business Council of the Iraqi side - Oil and Gas Minister Abdelkarim al-Lueybi" - said an Iraqi diplomat.

According to him, in recent years, Iraq has concluded many contracts in the oil and gas exploration.

"In Iraq, in the Andar province discovered a large gas field, which promises that Iraq may become one of the most important countries in the production of hydrocarbons. I think we're at the beginning of the development of our relations in this sector. By the way, our embassy have to give out a lot of visas to Kazakhstan oil-and gas workers who work in Iraq, "- said Ambassador.

It is worth noting that Iraq has the world's tenth largest natural gas reserves, but due to lack of infrastructure and lack of a mechanism of gas exports, he is forced every day to lose about 1 billion cubic f. natural gas from the total production of 1.5 billion cubic f. per day.

In his opinion, there are also opportunities to promote cooperation in agriculture, for example, in the transportation of Kazakh grain to Iraq, to expand cooperation in education and culture.

"All of this requires negotiation and conclusion of contracts. That's why we advocate for the creation of the Business Council," - said the Ambassador.

Recall that in May 2011 the company "KazMunayGas" out of the Akkas field development project, formally referring to some of the problems are not allowed to work out a consensus document that fully meets the interests of all parties. However, as learned from reliable sources, the Kazakh company was unable to establish a constructive dialogue with local tribes for natural gas exports from the territory of Anbar province (which is where the field is located) to neighboring Syria. Percentage of "KazMunaiGas" in the transaction proposed by the Iraqi side of the company went KOGAS, which now owns 75% of the project. 25%, as in other oil and gas deals between Iraq and foreign firms, concentrated in Baghdad.