Iraq and Turkey sign economic cooperation agreement

Iraqi officials announced that an agreement had been signed between the Iraqi government and the Iraqi-Turkish committee for economic cooperation. Oil Minister Amer Rasheed said Turkish companies will provide equipment and build an oil field in south central Iraq.
The deal also calls for work on an Iraqi-Turkish gas pipeline project and for Turkish help in developing truck manufacturing and railway lines in Iraq. A delegation of 300 Turkish business leaders arrived in Baghdad for the signing of the agreement.

Negotiations over the agreement were complicated by the fact that coalition aircraft use a base in Turkey to patrol the northern no-fly zone in Iraq. But Rasheed praised the agreement saying it was the first time Turkish businesspeople had been "so cooperative with Turkish development in Iraq."