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WASHINGTON, DC -- USA Rice Chairman Dow Brantley led a delegation of members
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| | Stuart Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq |
and staff on Friday in a meeting with Stuart Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, to discuss strategy for returning Iraq as a steady customer for U.S. rice.
"We have a large crop to move and Iraq is a traditional source of large demand for long grain rice," said Brantley, a rice farmer from England, Arkansas. "Ambassador Jones has been tireless in support of U.S. rice, but staff turnover at the Grain Board of Iraq and the Ministry of Trade, as well as the unstable political situation in the country have made it nearly impossible for us to be successful there."
USA Rice and the U.S. government continue with a full court press since Iraq began purchasing rice from non-U.S. origins in the Western Hemisphere at prices sometimes $45 per metric ton more than offered from the United States.
Ambassador Jones stressed that everyone at the embassy in Baghdad have become rice experts and expressed his appreciation for all the assistance USA Rice has provided to his team on the ground there.
"It is clear that Ambassador Jones has made educating the Iraqi government about the competitiveness of U.S. rice and the importance of operating a transparent and open tender process a top priority issue," said Betsy Ward, USA Rice President and CEO, who also attended the meeting.
Contact: Bob Cummings (703) 236-1473
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