The Iraqi Council of Ministers held a session this morning in the city of Basra in southern Iraq - the first session of the Council outside the Iraqi capital. The session, chaired by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, focused on means of addressing the problems and obstacles facing the development plans in the province of Basra, the second largest of Iraq's provinces in terms of population after the capital - Baghdad. The province witnessed yesterday the launch of the first floating platform to export oil with a capacity of 850,000 barrels per day.
