MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. Russian companies plan wider operations in Iraq in general and in Iraqi Kurdistan in particular, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Moscow on Monday.

"As far as economic cooperation are concerned, our companies are interested in and planning to expand operations in Iraq in general and in Iraqi Kurdistan as an integral part of Iraq enjoying a special status in particular," Lavrov said.

Last June the Russian oil major Rosneft and the government of Iraq’s Kurdish autonomy concluded a number of legally binding agreements to expand cooperation in hydrocarbons exploration and development, commerce and logistics. The parties agreed to create a joint venture to implement an infrastructural project in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rosneft’s press-service on October 20 said that the oil company and Iraqi Kurdistan had declared the launch of a project to operate an oil pipeline in the Kurdish autonomy.