BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 Iraq's oil minister said a trip by the prime minister to Syria will include discussions on energy, as the two sides try to make progress.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will lead a delegation to Damascus next week to talk about economic and security issues, which have not been easy to discuss together in recent years.
"Talks with the Syrian side will concentrate on discussing the security and oil fields and activating former agreements in the security and economic fields, as well as the Syrian desire to import crude oil from Iraq," Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told the Voices of Iraq news agency.
"The talks will also address fixing the oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria, which needs maintenance and protection."
In January the top economic officials of the two nations met in Baghdad. They talked about reopening a pipeline that was open for two years before being bombed by U.S. fighters in the 2003 invasion.
Oil from Iraq's northern and southern fields would meet in Haditha before being directed to Syria's Mediterranean port, the Kuwait News Agency reports.
The pipeline could face attack as it stretches through restive areas.
"Linking the two oil and gas networks is in our mutual interest," Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah al-Dardari said in March, upstreamonline.com reports. While Syria has talked of being a major carrier for Iraqi crude, it has demanded Iraq pay its old debt. Iraq, for its side, has asked Syria to crack down on border crossings by alleged insurgents.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
