Press Release: EU-Iraq: negotiations for a Trade and Cooperation Agreement continue

On 19-20 June 2008, the European Commission and the Government of Iraq will hold the fifth round of negotiations for a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) since negotiations started in November 2006. The fifth round is expected to cover trade in services, sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues, public procurement, intellectual property rights, statistical cooperation, combating drugs, organised crime and corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing, migration, regional cooperation, macroeconomic dialogue, investment, financial services cooperation and telecommunications. The negotiations will be led on the Commission’s side by Hugues Mingarelli, Deputy Director-General for External Relations, and Mohammed Hamoud Bidan, Iraqi Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs.