MANILA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Malaysia's trade minister said on Monday her country will ship 5,000 Proton cars to Iraq by August and seek opportunities to do more business with a nation that Washington accuses of hiding weapons of mass destruction.
"We shouldn't stop doing business with Iraq and with anybody else for that matter as long as it is...what is provided for under the United Nations," International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz told a news conference in Manila.
"For us, even if there's war in Iraq, we would like to continue to establish long-term relationships with Iraq. Of course, our prayer is that there's no war so that Iraq can get going with nation building."
Malaysia has said national carmaker Proton had clinched the deal to supply cars to Iraq after an international tender.
Last year, Proton shipped 5,000 cars to Iraq, Rafidah said on the second day of a three-day official visit to the Philippines.
"We certainly will continue to pursue (more car sales), to give as much to the market as possible," she said. "This is under the existing programme, a non-military contract." Trade between the two nations is nearly one-sided, with Malaysia exporting nearly $67 million worth of goods to Iraq in the first 10 months of last year and importing almost nothing.
Some exports to Iraq are sanctioned under a U.N. embargo imposed more than a decade ago, after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Controlled oil sales have been allowed since 1996 for the purchase of humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.