Beirut
Officials from Beirut and Baghdad signed a preliminary agreement that would see Lebanon trade its medical expertise for Iraqi fuel supplies, Lebanese state media reported.
Lebanon’s state-run electricity company faces dire cash shortages as the country grapples with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Oil-rich Iraq, which has seen COVID-19 cases soar in recent weeks, suffers from a chronic lack of drugs and medical care, and decades of war and poor investment have left its hospitals in bad shape.
Caretaker health minister Hamad Hassan and his Iraqi counterpart Hassan Al-Tamimi signed “a framework agreement … that includes (the supply of) oil in exchange for medical and hospital services,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.
Under the accord, inked in Beirut, Lebanon would receive 500,000 tons of Iraqi oil annually, or a sixth of its needs.—AFP
