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BAGHDAD:China, keen to develop cooperation with Iraq, has sent medicine worth $500,000 as a gift from the Chinese government to the sanctions-hit Iraqi people, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said on Tuesday.

"Iraq and China signed today minutes of delivering medical raw materials worth $500,000 as a gift from the Chinese government," INA reported.

The agency said the minutes were signed for Iraq by deputy minister of industry and minerals Abdul-Qader Abdul-Rahaman and for China by its ambassador in Baghdad Sun Bigan.

Iraq is under crippling U.N. trade sanctions imposed after its troops invaded Kuwait in 1990. The ban includes the export of oil and imports of commodities apart from humanitarian needs. But Iraq has not got the cash to pay for these needs.

China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is supportive of easing or lifting the sanctions once Baghdad adheres fully to its 1991 Gulf War weapons obligations.

"This gift reflects the friendship and love the Chinese people feel towards the Iraqis," INA quoted the ambassador as saying.-Reuter