Australia proceeding with wheat sales to Iraq

Wheat Australia, the group formed to sell wheat to Iraq, said on Thursday it was proceeding with shipments to Iraq from a recent sale and had not been informed of Baghdad's threat to reconsider trade.
The Australian Defence Force has confirmed its troops mistakenly opened fire on bodyguards of the Iraqi trade minister on Wednesday, killing one and wounding three people.
Wheat Australia said the details of the incident were still unclear.
"It's too early to understand the specifics of it at this stage but Wheat Australia will continue to observe events as they unfold," a spokeswoman said.
Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudany on Thursday demanded an apology from Australia and threatened to reconsider trade deals with the country.
"The minister holds the Australian government responsible and demands an apology and payment of compensation. If this does not happen, he will reconsider trade agreements between the two countries," his spokesman Muhammed Hanoun told Reuters in Baghdad.
Another Wheat Australia spokeswoman said letters of credit were being finalised for a recent tender sale of 350,000 tonnes.
"We were just finalising letters of credit and vessels are on their way," she said.
Wheat Australia is still keen to sell more wheat to Iraq.
It and national wheat exporter AWB Ltd both said on Thursday their officials were not present at trade meetings in Baghdad on Wednesday when the Australian soldiers opened fire.
Wheat Australia was formed in March to sell Australian wheat to Iraq after Baghdad suspended business dealings with AWB, the former Australian Wheat Board, over allegations that it paid $222 million in kickbacks to Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein.
In February, Iraq's new government suspended business dealings with AWB for the duration of an Australian government-appointed inquiry into the kickback allegations. The date for a decision by the inquiry on whether AWB broke any Australian laws was on Thursday extended to September 29.
Australia was the biggest supplier of wheat to Iraq during the years of Saddam Hussein, when imports of US wheat were effectively banned. Australia and the United States have been competing fiercely for Iraq's wheat import market, one of the world's biggest, since 2003.