Iraq has announced details of its proposals for the next phase of the United Nations' oil-for-food programme that allows the country to sell a limited quantity of oil to buy humanitarian supplies.

The new programme would allow Iraq to sell more oil and spend more than double the previous amount on food and medicines.

The Iraqi minister of trade , Muhammed Mehdi Saleh, said the vast majority of the new money - one-billion dollars - would be spent on food.

The Iraqi proposal has to be approved by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan.

A previous Iraqi plan failed to win UN approval due to disagreements over money allocated for a new phone system, and the sort of food to be included in the rations.

Iraq has had an oil-for-food programme for the past eighteen months.