May 12, 2002	Sunday	Safar 28, 1423

BAGHDAD, May 11: Iraq sent its industry and minerals minister to Saudi Arabia on Saturday in another sign of thawing relations between the two countries, Iraqi newspapers reported.

They said Maissar Rija Shlah would attend an Arab meeting in Riyadh, the first time an Iraqi minister has led an official delegation to Saudi Arabia since the 1991 Gulf war.

The government newspaper al-Jumhouriya said the visit follows an invitation by Saudi Minister of Industry and Electricity Hashem bin Abdullah bin Hashem bin Yamani.

Iraqi and Saudi leaders shook hands and embraced each other at an Arab summit in Beirut in March. Saudi Arabia, the launch pad for the US-led Gulf war, has previously refused to have direct dealings with Iraq under President Saddam Hussein.

“This is the first high-level contact between Iraq and Saudi Arabia since the two Arab brotherly states started to normalize relations,” Al Jumhouriya said.

Iraqi newspapers have also reported in the last few days that an exhibition of Saudi products will be held in Baghdad for the first time.

The papers quoted Iraq’s Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh as saying that the volume of Iraq’s purchases from Saudi Arabia had reached one billion dollars under the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme.—Reuters