China cancels 80% of Iraq debt

Iraq’s finance ministry said Tuesday China has agreed to cancel 80 percent of the $8.5-billion it is owed by Iraq. The finance ministry added the two countries did $3.8 billion in trade in 2009. The State-owned Chinese oil firm CNPC has clinched some of the biggest deals in the Iraqi oil sector since the US-led invasion.China was the leading member of a successful consortium bidding for the Halfaya field in southern Iraq. In December the Chinese firm signed a deal, along with BP, to ramp up production at Iraq's biggest oil field, Rumaila. Those two deals are in addition to a contract signed in 2008 by CNPC to develop another oil field south of Baghdad, giving the company a major presence among foreign energy firms operating in Iraq. Source