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China signs deal to build 1,000 schools in Iraq as Beijing pushes for greater role in Middle East after US withdrawals
- The deal will see Power China and Sino Tech helping the Iraqi government’s plans to rebuild the education system after years of war
- The country is now a major destination for Chinese investment in the Middle East and Beijing is the biggest buyer of Iraqi oil
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China has signed a deal to build 1,000 schools in Iraq as Beijing pushes for a bigger role in the Middle East while the United States retreats.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi oversaw the signing of 15 contracts on Thursday, with representatives of the Power Construction Corporation of China and Sino Tech.
According to the Iraqi News Agency, Power China will construct 679 schools and the other 321 will be built by Sino Tech.
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This was part of a national project to build a total of 7,000 new schoolhouses as the government tries to reconstruct the education system after years of war.
According to Unicef, nearly 3.2 million school-aged Iraqi children have no access to school.
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Thursday’s deals were signed two weeks after the US military announced that it had formally ended its combat mission 18 years after the US invaded to remove Saddam Hussein. However, some 2,500 US ground forces will stay in an advisory role.
US armed forces initially withdrew from the country in 2011, but former president Barack Obama then sent them back in 2014 after Islamic State militants seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
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