TITLE: Malaysia Says it Wants Iraq Back in the Global Mainstream

AUTHOR:

PUB: AFP

DATE: February 5, 2001

Malaysia said Monday it wanted to increase trade and technical cooperation with Iraq and vowed to keep pressing for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United Nations more than a decade ago. "As far as Malaysia is concerned we would like to see Iraq being brought back into the mainstream of the international community," said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Syed Hamid, speaking after a meeting with his visiting Iraqi counterpart Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, told a press conference the sanctions caused suffering among the civilian population. He said Malaysia would work for an end to sanctions -- imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait -- within the context of the United Nations. "We will try to get more and more people able to convince the powers that be that sanctions have not achieved their objective." Syed Hamid said his country, which sold 250,000 tonnes of palmoil to Iraq before the sanctions, wanted to revive the trade. He said Iraq had fully utilised the credit facility extended by Kuala Lumpur and was currently buying Malaysian palmoil through third countries. "We would like it that they buy direct from us." Syed Hamid welcomed Iraq's decision to buy 5,000 cars from national carmaker Proton. He said Malaysia would continue technical cooperation such as training Iraqi airline staff and administrators and wanted to encourage visits to Baghdad by non-governmental organisations, including doctors and student leaders. Syed Hamid visited Iraq last June for a meeting of their joint economic commission. This year's meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia has pressed strongly for sanctions to be lifted. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad once described them as holding the whole nation to ransom to try to persuade one person (Saddam Hussein) to surrender. END top