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French businessmen

study prospects

in Iraq

AMMAN: French businessmen returned from Baghdad on Sunday confident they would be able to clinch multi-million dollar deals once Iraq agreed to United Nations terms for limited oil sales.

"We went to Iraq with businessmen to explore the possibilities to be involved in the U.S. Security Council 986 resolution to supply food and medicine," Thierry Courtaigne, director of CNPF International (Confederation of French Industries and Services International), told Reuters.

The CNPF organised the five-day visit.

Courtaigne however insisted they were "applying to rules of the game" in dealing with Iraq, under stringent U.N. trade sanctions since Baghdad invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

Members of the 40-strong delegation said they explored prospects of a substantial French share in an estimated $500 million worth of humanitarian needs Iraq could buy if it accepted the resolution, which allows it to sell $2 billion worth of oil over six months.

Negotiations over the partial oil deal, which started in January, are scheduled to resume in New York on Monday.

The delegation included representatives of key French industries and banks, including the oil industry which has taken a lead among foreign firms in clinching tentative deals with Baghdad to be implemented once the embargo is fully removed.

Businessmen said Iraq was very keen to attract Western multinationals and foreign capital, especially French firms, due to long standing business ties before the Gulf crisis.

"There is an evolution in Iraqi policy towards international investment, they want to attract it, and European firms will be interested in participating in this new step," Courtaigne added.

Members of the delegation said the visit allowed French industry to position itself in the post-sanctions Iraqi market, in stepped competition among European businesses eyeing Iraq's vast potential as a consumer hungry market.

"We assessed the situation, positioned ourselves and established ourselves so when the door is open then we can go directly to the people we have met before," said Henri de Courtivron, Vice-President of Banque Indo-Suez.

Echoeing the views of his colleagues, the banker said French business and industry cannot afford to ignore Iraq, a key regional market with around 20 million people that sits on the world's second largest oil reserves.

"When you have a country as rich as Iraq with 20 million people and complete infrastructure to be built, of course it's a huge market," he added.-Reuter