ANKARA - Foreign Trade Undersecretary Tuncer Kayalar said on Monday that exports of Turkish companies to Iraq would continue in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution no:1472.
Kayalar issued a written statement and stated that Foreign Trade Undersecretariat formed a special working group within its body in this respect.
Kayalar said Foreign Trade Undersecretariat continued efforts to determine the difficulties which the companies, that signed contract with the Iraqi state companies and the U.N. institutions, would experience and to take measures against those difficulties within the scope of Oil For Food (OFF) agreement.
Kayalar said the companies could set up contact through web page ''[email protected]'', and recalled the U.N. Security Council resolution no:1472 regarded with continuation of OFF Program under the conditions which Iraq is currently in.
Kayalar said under the resolution, the U.N. Secretary General was authorized to make some technical arrangements temporarily and exceptionally.
Reminding that the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) and other related U.N. institutions determined the contracts having priority following the adoption of the resolution, Kayalar said that contracts on food stuff, medicine and basic medical materials, materials used in purification of water, electrical equipment, basic agricultural inputs, lorries and generators had priority.
The contracts which are in this list will start to be conveyed to permanent representations as of April 31, 2003.
Kayalar stressed that the firms which earlier undertook contracts with Iraq, but which could not transfer the products to Iraq due to the operation, had to give information to OIP. Kayalar noted that the U.N. officials would have contacts with the firms which earlier informed OIC, as of April 2, 2003.
Turkish firms signed contracts worth of approximately 700 million dollars within the scope of OFF programme.
(AY-ÖS-AÖ) 31.03.2003