Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has underlined the need for forming a special working group and designing a long-term plan to remove the hurdles on the way of trade exchanges between Iran and Iraq.
The president who has traveled to Baghdad, made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian businesspeople active in the Iraqi market which took place in the Iranian embassy in Iraq on Wednesday.
“We have come to Baghdad to facilitate things for Iranian merchants, businesspeople and investors in Iraq,” he said.
The president added that he had had “positive” talks earlier in the day with the Iraqi prime minister where they discussed trade and economic cooperation.
President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA), who was also present at the meeting, said that trade cooperation with Iraq have to move towards further investments.
Putting the current level of trade between Iran and Iraq at $12 billion, Samad Hassanzadeh said that the figure can be increased to $20 billion.
He noted that Iran can make investments in different areas in Iraq including, agriculture, petrochemicals, plastic, glass, shoes and clothes.
Iran’s ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem Al Sadeq also addressed the meeting, referring to Iraq as a key trade partner of Iran.
He said that Iran’s oil exports to Iraq account for some 20% of total trade exchanges between the two nations.
The ambassador invited the Iranian businesspeople to make investments in Iraq, noting that the country has good potentials for investment.
A number of Iranian economic operators present at the meeting also talked about the problems impeding the increase of trade exchanges and investment in Iraq.
