Lee urged Maliki to allow more South Korean companies to take part in exploring the world's third-largest oil reserves, Seoul's presidential office said in a statement.

He also offered to share Seoul's experience in developing an impoverished war-torn country in the 1950s into a major world economy.

Maliki urged South Korean firms to take part in reconstruction projects to build houses, roads, electricity networks and other energy resources.

The Iraqi leader had a list of projects in which he hoped to attract South Korean investment such as construction of 5,000 schools, hospitals and railways, Ali al-Mussawi, Maliki's media adviser, told AFP before the trip.

Trade between the two countries, which forged official diplomatic ties in 1989, was worth $5.6 billion last year, with Iraq mostly selling oil and South Korea exporting cars and mobile phones.

Under a deal signed during the visit South Korea has secured the right to be one of the first countries to receive at least 250,000 barrels a day of Iraqi crude oil in the event of an emergency, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.

It said in a statement the agreement would significantly enhance energy security in the resource-poor nation.

The amount is equivalent to about 10 percent of South Korea's daily crude imports of 2.4 million barrels, it said.

-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report --

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