Iraqi PM Due in Tehran for Bilateral Talks
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi is slated to pay an official visit to Iran in the coming days to meet and hold talks with senior Iranian officials, media sources said.
Abdul Mahdi will arrive in Tehran in the first leg of his regional tour to several neighboring countries, Turkey and Saudi Arabia within the next two weeks, Iraq's local media reported.
They said that the Iraqi prime minister will pay a two-day visit to Tehran on April 6-7 at the official invitation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The news comes as a high-ranking Iraqi delegation arrived in Iran on Tuesday. The delegation was planned to attend a joint economic forum with the members of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce.
In a relevant development in late March, President Rouhani and Abdul Mahdi, in a telephone conversation, underlined that Tehran and Baghdad will expedite efforts to operationalize the sealed agreements between the two countries.
During the phone conversation with Abdul Mahdi on March 26, President Rouhani termed relationship between Iran and Iraq as “strategic and historic".
He said that the amicable relationship will benefit both countries and will not harm any country in the region.
President Rouhani pointed to the recent achievements of his travel to neighboring Iraq and said, “Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to implement important and historic agreements of this trip that can bring about a considerable jump in relationship between the two countries."
Referring to recent heavy rains and the huge amount of water entered into Arvand River, he underlined the importance of accelerating dredging the river for both countries.
For his part, Abdul Mahdi congratulated Nowruz, the first day of year in the Persian Calendar marking the start of Iranian New Year, and expressed his deep concern over the deadly floods in Iran.
All agreements will be implemented soon, he said, adding, “Dredging the Arvand River and removing charges on Visa will be made operational."
Earlier in March, Caretaker of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO) Mohammad Reza Modoudi reassured that Tehran and Baghdad enjoy the capacity to meet the $20bln bilateral trade objective.
The Iranian official added that LPG export to Iraq, electricity contracts between the two countries, tourism and different services have to be born in mind when it comes to relations with Baghdad.
“Currently Iran is exporting $13 billion to Iraq, including 8.5 to 9 billion dollars of export of goods and commodities; the rest comes from export of technical and engineering services, tourism, and electricity,” Modoudi highlighted.