Iraq plans to spend 300 million dollars on planes and hopes European giant Airbus will come up with a new offer within two weeks, more than a decade after a proposed deal was frozen, the interim transport minister said Monday.
"We have a budget of 300 million dollars to lease or buy aircraft from Airbus and Boeing," Behnam Polis told AFP - a budget that he hopes will kick-start Iraq's grounded national airline.
He said he had discussed the stalled deal with Airbus officials during a visit to Britain last week, but that officials in Paris had been unable to see him.
"We discussed everything. We want to co-operate with Airbus and I am expecting them to give us a proposal in two weeks," Polis said.
"There is no problem with leasing or buying aircraft," he added, despite the fact that Baghdad airport has been taken over as a US military base, with no foreseeable plans to reopen it to normal commercial traffic.
But Polis said he wanted the airport at Iraq's second city of Basra, to reopen without delay.
"Tomorrow, if it is my authority, I will take the decision directly to reopen Basra. The security is very good there," he said.
Iraq signed an agreement with Airbus before the 1991 Gulf War to buy 10 Airbus planes, for which Polis has said it paid 10 percent of the sum, more than 10 million dollars.
The deal was stalled after the United Nations slapped international sanctions on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
In November, Polis said he had written to Airbus and was awaiting the company's response to reopen negotiations.
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