Iraqi MPs Voice Support for Expanding Tehran-Baghdad Relations
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi lawmakers of the Iraq-Iran parliamentary friendship group, in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to the Arab country Iraj Masjedi, said that they are willing to undertake further measures for bolstering relations between the two countries.
Iraq-Iran parliamentary friendship group met the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, stressing the parliaments’ roles in developing bilateral relations.
The Iraq-Iran parliamentary friendship group said it’s ready to help develop relations between the two countries.
Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian envoy to Iraq, said Tehran is ready to share experiences with Iraq over scientific, industrial and agricultural sectors after “the US destroyed the country’s infrastructure by its invasion”.
Iran and Iraq have recently been further developing their bilateral relations.
On Saturday, it was announced that Iran and Iraq will increase their medical cooperation as officials of the two sides agreed to launch educational programs for Iraqi researchers, hospital personnel, and physicians to get trained by Iranian experts and researchers in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Iraqi Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Qusay Abdul Wahab al-Suhail visited different medical centers and hospitals in Iran where he talked Iranian medical officials into helping Iraq set up a medical center for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
On Thursday, Iranian Commercial Attaché to Iraq Nasser Behzad announced that the two neighboring countries have signed a new agreement to further ease bilateral trade ties and increase economic cooperation, adding that barriers obstructing commercial relations will be removed with the new pact.
Behzad declared that Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to facilitate trade cooperation and remove trade barriers between the two neighbors.
He added that the pact was signed during a recent visit by Head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran Mojtaba Khosrotaj and the accompanying delegation to Iraq.
During the visit, the Iran-Iraq Joint Trade Committee held a meeting for the first time in Baghdad aiming to boost Iranian traders' participation in the Iraqi market.
The committee discussed important issues including banking cooperation, standardization of commodities, customs regulations, investment opportunities as well as technical and engineering services beside transportation, Behzad said.
In the meantime, an agreement was signed between the two countries based on which preparations should be made for establishing a joint industrial town, and methods should be developed for verifying the standards and quality of Iranian products.
Besides, the agreement aims to facilitate visa issuance for Iranian businessmen, increase Iranian exhibitions in Iraq, and remove barriers for the Iranian exports to Iraq.
Last Tuesday, Secretary General of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Seyed Hamid Hosseini said that Tehran will raise $5 billion revenues for its gas and electricity exports to neighboring Iraq by the end of the current local calendar year on March 20, 2020.
Hosseini said on July 16 that Iran will earn $5 billion revenues for its gas and electricity sales to neighboring Iraq this year.
Iran’s technical and engineering projects, which had been stopped in Iraq due to terrorist activities, have resumed, Hosseini added.
Meanwhile, new projects will be commissioned in neighboring Iraq by the year-end.
Presently, projects such as sports stadium, water and sewage projects and also housing projects, which had been stopped in Iraq due to the presence of ISIL terrorists, will restart their work, he continued,
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hosseini pointed to organizing Iran-Iraq Joint Economic Forum and added, “this Forum will be held on July 21-22 in Iraqi capital Baghdad in the presence of relevant officials and organizations.”
Earlier, various issues such as construction of industrial parks, transit of goods and development of railways had been discussed between the two countries, he said, adding, “These issues will be reviewed in this joint commission.”
Iran exports non-oil commodities such as cement as well as gas and electricity to Iraq. In the year between March 2018 to March 2019, Iran exported close to $9 billion of products to Iraq registering 37 percent growth compared to the preceding year.
The two countries' officials have set the target of $20 billion per year for Iran-Iraq trade.
