WARSAW, Sept 4 (AFP) - Polish arms firm Bumar has signed a 10.5-million-dollar (8.7-million-euro) contract with the Iraqi authorities to supply weapons and ammunition to the war-torn country's army and police, the company said late on Friday.
The contract was concluded on Friday on the sidelines of an international arms fair in the southern town of Kielce, Bumar spokeswoman Roma Sarzynska said.
She said the contract was the first stage in a larger deal being negotiated with the Iraqi authorities.
Last week Bumar chief executive Roman Baczynski had said the negotiations with Baghdad concerned the delivery of pistols, machine guns and ammunition worth a total 20 million dollars.
Representatives of Iraq's defence and security ministries who were attending the arms fair in Kielce have also expressed interest in the possibility of Bumar upgrading the Iraqi army's T-72 assault tanks, according to Polish public television.
In May, Bumar lost a 425-million-dollar (353-million-euro) Iraqi army contract to ANHAM, a joint venture based in the US state of Virginia.
Poland, a staunch ally of the United States in Iraq, heads a multinational force of 6,500 soldiers that is administering a swathe of Iraq south of Baghdad. The force includes around 2,500 Polish soldiers.