Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rashid and his visiting Indonesian counterpart Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Tuesday signed an agreement to enhance bilateral cooperation in the oil field, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The agreement was a contract signed by the two sides to explore oil and gas in a desert region in the western provinces of Karbala and Najaf, the INA said.
The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the two oil ministries in the field of training, exchanging experience and providing oil equipment for Iraq's oil sector, the INA said.
Rashid stressed the "strategic" significance of the agreement and said he was sure the agreement will further raise Iraq's oil reserves, which ranks second in the world after Saudi Arabia.
Yusgiantoro, heading an official delegation, arrived in the Iraqi capital on Monday and held talks with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein earlier Tuesday.
Indonesia has sought to boost cooperation with Iraq under the United Nations oil-for-food program, which came into effect in 1996 and allows Iraq to sell oil and use part of the revenues to buy food, medicine and other essentials for its people.
Iraq has been under UN sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2002)
