The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today, Thursday, that the Sovereign Guarantees Committee signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Spanish External Loan Guarantee Organization. A statement by the Ministry said: "The Sovereign Guarantees Committee, headed by Muhammad Sahib Al-Daraji, technical advisor to the Prime Minister, signed an important memorandum of cooperation with the Spanish External Loan Guarantee Organization to establish industrial production lines of Spanish origin in Iraq through the Iraqi private sector." The statement added that "this initiative comes with sovereign guarantees from the Iraqi government for the purpose of localizing pharmaceutical, food and construction industries in Iraq." He pointed out that "the signing ceremony was attended by Saleh Al-Tamimi, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the Kingdom of Spain, members of the Sovereign Guarantees Committee, the head of the Iraqi Federation of Industries, and representatives of the chambers of commerce in Iraq, in add ition to the head of the Iraqi Businesswomen Council and a number of Iraqi companies." The statement concluded, "The signing of the memorandum of cooperation comes under the direction of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and also after the tireless efforts made by the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Madrid and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Iraq through the Commercial Attaché, which included organizing several meetings between the relevant Iraqi and Spanish sides over the course of a year. Source: National Iraqi News Agency