Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Puri indicated after his meeting today, Tuesday, with his Iraqi counterpart Hayan Abdul Ghani, that India aims to increase its annual oil purchases from Iraq from the current one billion barrels. Puri headed the Indian delegation at the 18th meeting of the India-Iraq Joint Commission for Economic & Technical Cooperation with an Iraqi delegation led by HE Mr. Hayan Abdul Ghani Abdul Zahra Al Sawad, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Oil of the Republic of Iraq.
Puri stated, "India is the second-largest trading partner of Iraq, with an annual trade volume of $37 billion." He added, "In addition to matters related to energy and hydrocarbon trade, we also discussed ways to expand the trade basket and enhance cooperation in other areas, including trade and investment, health, education, sports, medical tourism, and capacity building."
