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Ram Naik in Baghdad to discuss deals

India's oil minister arrived in Baghdad on Friday on a three-day visit to discuss deals to boost trade, the Iraqi News Agency said.

The agency said Petroleum Minister Ram Naik was leading a team of officials for a meeting of the Indo-Iraq Joint Commission on Saturday and Sunday to "discuss means of economic, political and cultural cooperation between the two countries".

Indian officials said on Tuesday Naik would hold talks with Iraqi officials to revive plans to export wheat to Iraq and receive crude oil in return.

Baghdad exports oil under a UN humanitarian oil-for-food deal, permitted as an exception to UN sanctions imposed in 1990 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

"We are keen to export wheat to Iraq against import of crude oil," a government official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

At the last meeting of the commission in 2000, India agreed to help Iraq modernise its oil installations and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp signed a contract for an exploration block in Iraq, it said.

The head of ONGC's foreign arm, Atul Chandra, will accompany the oil minister and is expected to pursue opportunities for exploration and production, officials said.

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