Kurdistan and Iraq unify customs tariffs to facilitate commercial trade
Iraqi authorities announced on Friday evening that they would begin consolidating customs procedures with the Kurdistan Region at all border gates “as of Saturday” and eliminate domestic customs points between Erbil and Baghdad.
“The agreement includes the unification of all practices and provisions of the customs tariff law and the adoption of customs interpreters in both Arabic and Kurdish languages to work at all border gates,” read the statement released by Iraq’s customs directorate.
Following tensions arising between Erbil and Baghdad as a result of the September 2017 independence referendum, the Iraqi government installed several customs points on the Kurdistan Region’s borders, including on roads between Erbil and Kirkuk, Sulaimani and Kirkuk, and Duhok and Mosul, charging fees on products brought to the area from the Kurdish region.
Over the past few months, people in the disputed province of Kirkuk increasingly voiced their concerns about stations on the Erbil-Kirkuk, and Sulaimani-Kirkuk roads, complaining that not only drivers fell victim to the policies, but the poor as well, who were forced to pay higher retail prices.
Another result of the post-referendum increased reach of Baghdad in the Kurdistan Region is that immigration procedures and computer systems have also been consolidated, with federal immigration officials now having the final say at Kurdistan Region borders and airports for the first time.
Editing by Nadia Riva