Australia-Wheat for Iraq.

IRAQ-WHEAT FROM AUSTRALIA.

An Iraqi and Australian Memorandum of Understanding will be established to improve relations, specifically in agricultural trade.

Iraqi Prime minister Mr Nouri Kamil Al-Maliki and Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will sign the MOU this evening in Canberra

Australian exports to Iraq are currently worth $148 million a year. More than 90 per cent of that is wheat.

Wheat exports to the nation have dropped from more than 1.2 million tonnes in 2005 to just 348,000 tonnes last year.

Prime Minister Al-Maliki says the trade needs to be boosted.

"In this memorandum, the agriculture sector is the most important," he says.

"Unfortunately, it has deteriorated so badly in Iraq, due to the policies of the previous regime."