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Oil on mind, Khurshid to visit Iraq this week
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

Reviving old links Visit’s objective would be to revive the strong economic and trade links the two countries had during the 1970s and 1980s. The two sides would also discuss entry of more Indian businesses into Iraq to stimulate trade and investments. India is showing renewed interest in Iraq as it has drastically cut down its oil imports from Iran to avoid US sanctions. Iranian oil exports in May have reached a 25-year low with India importing only about 1,17,000 barrels a day.

New Delhi, June 16
After China, it’s India’s turn to woo oil-rich Iraq to meet its growing energy needs.

With Indian imports of crude from Iran dipping by the day, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is heading to Iraq this week to discuss the possibility of increasing oil imports from the Arab nation.

This will be after more than two decades that a top India leader would visit Iraq, which has become one of the top oil producers in the world with China now being its biggest customer. The last top level visit from India to Iraq was undertaken by then Foreign Minister I K Gujral in 1990 in connection with the evacuation of Indians in the wake of the Gulf war when he earned global flak for the famous hug he gave to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain.

During his June 19-20 visit to Baghdad, Khurshid will hold substantive talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari, and other important leaders, reflecting New Delhi’s keenness to add substance to its relationship with Baghdad at a high political level.

The objective would be to revive the strong economic and trade links the two countries had during the 1970s and 1980s, officials here said. The two sides would also discuss ways and means to facilitate the entry of more Indian businesses into Iraq to stimulate trade and investments.

India’s renewed interest in Iraq also stems from the fact that it has drastically cut down its oil imports from Iran to avoid US and EU sanctions. Iranian oil exports in May are said to have reached a 25-year low, with India importing only about 117,000 barrels a day.

New Delhi has been finding it difficult to insure refineries which deal with the Iranian crude after the EU, which houses most global insurance companies, threatened to cut off all insurance from firms using Iranian energy supplies. On top of it, India is also struggling to make payments to Iran for the oil imports.

Iraq has become the biggest beneficiary of the drop in India’s imports of Iranian oil. India is now the second largest importer of Iraqi oil. While asking Iraq to increase oil supplies to India, Khurshid is likely to offer increasing Indian exports to Baghdad in areas like metals, electronic goods, meat, machinery and fruits. Iraq has already indicated that it could consider increasing oil exports to India by about 30 per cent. Since the US-led invasion of 2003 of Iraq, the Chinese have become the biggest gainers of the post-Saddam Hussain oil boom in the Arab nation.