KARACHI, Aug 2: Minister for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood will lead a delegation to Baghdad to attend Pakistan-Iraq Joint Ministerial Commission meeting expected to be held in the second week of this month, official sources have said.

Besides reviewing trade relations between the two countries, the sources said both the sides will discuss in detail policy matters relating to future trade relations.

It is encouraging to see that for third consecutive year the Pakistan-Iraq JMC meeting is being held. After a long gap of eleven years the first JMC for the year 2000 was held in Baghdad and the second meeting was held in Islamabad in 2001.

The minister for commerce is expected to convince Baghdad to enter into more wheat contract with Pakistan, which has already met its specifications and managed to meet their demand.

Official sources told Dawn that the second vessel loaded with 31,000 tons of wheat replacing the earlier consignment rejected by Baghdad is expected to sail out in the last week of this month.

The sources said that presently the wheat is being made ready for shipment and the government of Punjab is providing it from its stocks.

On acceptance of this vessel load of wheat by Iraq the country will be finalizing its contract of 100,000 tons wheat won under UN programme ‘Oil for Food’ last year.

Meanwhile, the minister for commerce is holding a meeting on August 7, in Lahore to review the cotton and wheat policies and their exports, official sources said.

The sources said the primary objective of the meeting is to reach to a consensus between the stakeholders with regard to cotton policy. With new cotton season around the corner there are strong speculation about its size particularly when looked at from consumption point of view.

The minister is expected to give broader lines for next season’s cotton crop and would like to take along all the stakeholders so that national interest is upheld and no section or segment is made to suffer at the hands of others.

The sources said it is expected that emphasis would be laid down on increasing contamination free or clean cotton by adding couple of more districts in Sindh and Punjab for achieving this objective.

Furthermore, procurement and export policy will be come up for discussion so that growers interest is ensured without compromising on free cotton trade policy, the sources added.