But even after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with the Chinese premier Friday, it was still unclear how much debt had been written off.
State media said only that Premier Wen Jiabao told Talabani that China would help train Iraqi personnel to upgrade Iraq's medical and educational capacities.
Chinese Commerce minister Bo Xilai and three Iraqi ministers signed a deal Thursday to cancel Iraqi debt owed to China's government, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was set to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday.
No details were given on the debt relief, although Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing wanted to cut the debt "by a large margin."
Friday's official English-language China Daily newspaper ran a front page headline trumpeting "Nation set to forgive Iraq debt," but offered no figures.
According to Iraq's finance minister, Iraq owes China about $8 billion — part of the roughly $60 billion in foreign debt accumulated during the Saddam Hussein era.
There was no immediate explanation for the lack of information about figures. However, China has frequently used debt relief, especially toward African nations, to burnish its credentials as a friend of the developing world.
Such debt relief, though, has gone hand-in-hand with China's global campaign to secure natural resources to feed its sizzling economy.
China had been a major investor in Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein, and during Talabani's visit, the two sides were are expected to discuss reviving a 1997 deal for China's National Petroleum Corp. to develop the billion-barrel al-Ahdab oil field.
The company, also known as PetroChina, began renegotiating the $1.2 billion contract in October. The project could be reactivated if Iraq's parliament passes a hotly debated oil law.
The Iraqi president was expected to travel to the ancient capitals of Xi'an and Nanjing after meeting Wen.
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