By RIA Novosti
Moscow : An agreement to write off most of Iraq’s debt to Russia will be signed in Moscow on February 11, the Iraqi Embassy said on Thursday.
The agreement is a follow-up to a decision by the Russian government to clear 80% of Baghdad’s Soviet-era debt in line with accords reached through the Paris Club of creditor nations.
“During a visit by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to Russia on February 11, a memorandum on developing trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and Iraq will be signed alongside a bilateral financial agreement to write off the debt in line with Paris Club accords,” the embassy said in a news release.
A Russian Finance Ministry source confirmed the plans, saying the total debt was estimated at $13 billion following recalculations.
“The sum was initially lower, but it was later reassessed considering the peculiarities of the original agreements, which include a currency clause,” the source said.
The Finance Ministry earlier said the debt was some $10 billion.
The Iraqi government expected the intergovernmental deal to be signed before the end of 2007. Some media said the delay was due to Iraq’s cancelation of a 1997 contract with Russian oil company LUKoil on the West Qurna-2 oil field, one of Iraq’s richest. But both countries’ authorities dismissed the allegations.
Hoshyar Zebari said last September that his country could offer Russian oil and gas companies considerable advantages to operate in Iraq, but ruled out that this could be linked to the debt settlement issue.