The spread of novel coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) in China and most other countries have not affected a landmark oil-for-projects agreement signed between Baghdad and Beijing in 2019, said an Iraqi official on Sunday.
A joint fund created by the agreement has now in excess of $1 billion to be used by Baghdad to finance projects executed by Chinese companies in Iraq, said Mohammed Mudhar Saleh, an adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister.
He told the official Iraqi news agency that new projects to be financed by that fund would be announced in the 2020 budget.
"The funds which belong to Iraq under that agreement now exceed $1 billion as Iraq has continued to supply Chinese firms with oil since mid-October," he said.
"The agreement remains in force and will be for 20 years...Chinese companies will be awarded more projects after the end of the current Corona crisis...this is important because China is still subject to severe measures to fight the pandemic and it is not alone in this crisis which has become a global problem."
