By NNN-KUNA,
Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel has voiced desire to strengthen economic relations with Iraq and upgrade them to a “good” level.
She was speaking at a joint news conference Tuesday with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki at the conclusion of the talks they held here.
Merkel said she saw conducive opportunities to develop economic relations with Iraq, at the same time pointing to the availability of good potentials in Germany and Iraq to open a new chapter of relations between them.
Merkel noted that German businessmen were keen on investing in Iraq and cooperate with the Iraqi side, describing the security situation in the violence-plagued country of being “improving step by step, which is a prerequisite for strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries.”
For his part, Al-Maliki urged Berlin to upgrade economic interaction in the investment sector in Iraq.
Al-Maliki, who arrived here late Monday night at the head of a political and economic delegation on a two-day official visit, had met with Merkel and is scheduled to also meet with a number of German officials, including Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as government officials, politicians, economists, businessmen and company owners during a symposium convened by the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHT) Wednesday.
German Economy Minister Michael Glos, who had made a surprise visit to Iraq earlier this month, stressed the importance of interaction among German businessmen, pointing in this context that Iraq had become a “calm place, prospered with security”.
Meanwhile, Foreign Business Chief of the German Industry and Trade Association (DIHK) Axel Nitschke told reporters Tuesday that Iraq was a “giant energy that needs to be exploited and utilised”, commercially and economically.
He pointed out that Iraq is now ranked 100th in the list of German exports’ destination since the value of trade exchange between Berlin and Baghdad last year amounted to more than 320 million euros and that this exchange rate would rise remarkably in the current year and next year.
According to German economic experts, Iraq is the third largest country in oil reserves, whereas sources estimate quantities of crude oil at about 115 billion barrels, pointing out that the Iraq produces at the present 2.5 million barrels per day.
German experts also indicated that Iraq’s daily crude oil export rate in the next five years will reach 4.5 million barrels, despite the country’s “worn out and vulnerable” oil installations.