Iraq (Reconstruction Contracts)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Industry – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 7 April 2005.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Ann Clwyd Ann Clwyd Special Envoy to PM on Human Rights in Iraq 11:30, 7 April 2005

May I remind my right hon. Friend that we used to support the Baghdad trade fairs—at least, the Conservatives did—throughout the time when Saddam Hussein was killing the Shi'a and the Kurds?

Continuing the process of the reconstruction of Iraq, the inauguration of the new President of Iraq is taking place at this moment. He is Jalal Talabani, who for 60 years struggled against various regimes in Iraq, fought Saddam Hussein, and fled to the mountains in 1991 when helicopter gunships were being used against the Kurds and others. I think that we will all want to send congratulations to him today. He is not only a democrat but from a minority group in Iraq, which shows that minorities can become as important even in that country as they can in this country.