BAGHDAD (M&C News) – Iran officially recognized on Wednesday the Haj Omran border crossing northeast of the city of Arbil with the aim of facilitating trade and developing commercial links between the Iraqi region of Kurdistan and Iran.

The agreement regarding the official recognition of the new border crossing came after a meeting between the speaker of the Kurdish regional parliament, Adnan al-Mufti, and a visiting high-ranking Iranian trade delegation.

Al-Mufti spoke of improved Iraqi Kurdish-Iranian bilateral relations and of the need to enhance trade and industrial links between the two parties. He also endorsed Iran's role in fighting terrorism in Iraq by controlling the borders between the two countries.

The only official border crossing between Iraq and Iran was the al-Monzuriya crossing, northeast of Baghdad, although a number of informal border crossings between the two countries have been utilized, primarily by Iran to transport its commercial goods into Iraq.

In previous years the unofficial Haj Omran and Bashmak border crossings had served as the chief transit points for Iran's commercial goods into Iraq's Kurdistan Region.