Original title: China extends a helping hand to Iraq: 100000 barrels of oil per day for reconstruction
China extends a helping hand to Iraq. Iraq wants to exchange oil for reconstruction
"We belong to Asia, and we want to be part of Asia's rise." The Iraqi Prime Minister said so in Beijing during his visit to China at the end of September. It has been 16 years since the end of the Iraq war, and the Middle East country is still unable to recover. To a large extent, these difficulties stem from the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime and the chaos caused by the withdrawal of troops after U.S. military intervention. Against this background, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Mehdi visited China last month, hoping to expand cooperative relations with China. Soon, China extended a helping hand and reached an "oil for reconstruction" project with Iraq.
According to the Middle East media al monitor news network reported on the 10th, during Abdul Mahdi's delegation's visit to China, Iraq and China officially launched the "oil for reconstruction" project. According to the agreement, Chinese companies participate in Iraq's infrastructure reconstruction, while Iraq promises to provide 100000 barrels of oil to China every day.
After three years of war, Iraq needs $88 billion to repair and develop infrastructure. Mahdi said: "we have reached an agreement [with China] to set up a mutual investment fund to invest the money earned from oil." In addition to China, Iraq will also cooperate with other countries and will not let China monopolize all projects.
Iraq's official media, Al Sabah, quoted its economist gardler & bull; Ghadeer al attar said: "the prime minister's visit to China is of great significance to Iraq, which may establish major project cooperation relations with China and bring economic revolution to Iraq."
At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi of the Republic of Iraq paid an official visit to China from September 19 to 23.
German media reported on the 12th that during his visit to China last month, Abdul Mahdi said that Iraq "belongs to Asia and we hope to become part of the rise of Asia." He said that in 2018, China has replaced India as Iraq's largest trading partner, with a bilateral trade volume of more than 30 billion US dollars. Today, Iraq is also China's second largest oil supplier.
It is reported that during the visit, Iraq and China signed eight agreements. Under the cooperation framework signed by the Ministry of finance of Iraq and China Export Credit Insurance Corporation, these agreements involve many projects such as roads, railway networks, housing, ports, hospitals, schools, dams, energy and transportation. According to the agreement, China will invest US $10 billion from the beginning to build infrastructure for transporting oil from Iraq to China.
These infrastructures were built by Chinese companies, while Iraq promised to provide 100000 barrels of oil to China every day. China's Hailong petroleum technology service company cooperates with Iraqi drilling companies to form a joint venture to drill oil throughout Iraq, including Majnoon oilfield, one of the world's largest oilfields.
The agreement also includes cooperation with Iraq in power and manufacturing, as well as the establishment of a Chinese Library at Baghdad University.
The Ministry of electric power of Iraq has signed an agreement with China Heavy Machinery Group, which has been engaged in construction projects in Iraq, especially the construction of Saladin fuel power station.
Saleh & bull, Minister of industry and mining of Iraq; Abdullah & bull; Jubri said that one of the contents of the agreement is to establish an Iraqi Chinese joint manufacturing city in Iraq to produce goods that meet 'world standards'.
Al monitor News Network said that in fact, similar agreements had been signed between China and Iraq as early as 2015. China's one belt, one road initiative, was also signed by Abdel Mahdi, Iraq's oil minister, to exchange for crude oil for investment, reconstruction and development projects. Since then, China has participated in the construction of nearly 100 projects. But later, these projects were stopped because of the tense political and security situation in Iraq and the cabinet reshuffle.
China's total investment in Iraq has reached US $20 billion, mainly in the energy sector, developing the energy industry in the form of cooperation or independent investment by multinational corporations. In addition, the trade volume between the two countries reached US $30 billion, of which 15 billion was Iraqi oil imported by China.
On September 24, Iraqi power minister hadib wrote on Facebook: "China is the first choice for our long-term strategic cooperation. We have launched an investment plan of US $10 billion to fund some reconstruction projects with a certain amount of oil. " He wrote, "with the increase of Iraqi oil production capacity, Chinese funds will also increase. Unlike previous policies, this project will operate through the reconstruction Commission, including reconstruction, investment and regulating the operation of the Commission. "
It is reported that Iraq has taken the first step, and they have opened bank accounts. Soon, the Chinese delegation will visit Iraq to understand the strategic plans of projects such as the suspension railway and Nasiriyah International Airport, and reach an agreement on their implementation.
Abdul Hussein al Hanin, adviser to the prime minister, told Al monitor news that "the China Iraq agreement will last for more than 20 years. According to the agreement, Iraq will export 3 million barrels of oil to China every month at international oil prices, which is currently estimated to be worth 180 million US dollars. "