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Business Daily: Iraq's Oil

03/03/2010

Iraq's Oil

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Iraq's Oil

Iraq's Oil Minister tells foreign investors not to be nervous about the coming election.

Iraq's Oil Minister has told foreign investors not to be nervous about the coming election.  Dr Hussein Sharistani said existing oil contracts will not be re-visited by a future government.

International investors will be watching closely the outcome of parliamentary elections in Iraq later this week. 

Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil industry and its massive oil reserves. The country has hugely ambitious plans to expand production, and already oil deals have been agreed with foreign companies. But seven years since the American-led invasion, political uncertainty remains, and suicide bombings in the central city of Baquba show the security situation is still volatile. 

Oil contracts have already been signed with foreign companies, even though Iraqi politicians have failed to agree on a Hydrocarbons Law. But the development of Iraq's dilapidated oil sector has become an election issue. From Baghdad, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse talks to Oil Minister, Dr Hussein Sharistani, who says existing oil contracts will not be re-visited by a future government. 

Plus, Lesley Curwen talks to Professor Wim Koesters of Bochum University about Eurozone indebtedness. He helped to co-ordinate a public declaration in 1998 by 180 German economists, calling for a delay in the launch of the Euro because some countries were too indebted.

And our Business of Sport commentator, David Goldblatt reckons that the lasting legacies of many global sports events are empty stadia and huge public debts.

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