The housing ministries of Iraq and Egypt have agreed a deal for Egyptian companies to build housing with a total value of $450m, news website Zawya reports.

Iraqi housing official Jaber Al-Hassani said that the contracts will include 14 projects across Iraq.

Iraq has made housing a priority of Iraq’s post-war reconstruction drive. According to a statement from the Ministry of Planning in November, 3.5 million Iraqi citizens live in slums out of a population of 40 million people. The governorates of Baghdad, Basra and Ninevah are the provinces with the top number of slums.