TEHRAN – The Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) on Tuesday hosted a conference on solutions for sustained trade development between Iran and Iraq in the horizon of 2025, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking at the conference, Secretary General of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Jahanbakhsh Sanjabi-Shirazi said: “In today's conference, we want to assess the future of business relations between Iran and Iraq in the horizon of 2025 and discuss our position in this market.”

“In order to maintain our trade with Iraq in the long term, we need foresight so that we can adapt ourselves to the future conditions of this market,” the official said.

He put the two countries' trade turnover at $10 billion, noting that Iran’s exports to the neighboring country account for 90 percent of the trade.

Referring to the importance of trade between Iran and Iraq, Sanjabi-Shirazi said: “We need to protect our position in this market, and considering the competitors, it is necessary to have proper planning in this regard.”

According to the official, Iraq currently accounts for 20 percent of Iran’s total trade, and losing this market to competitors means losing one-fifth of the country’s total trade turnover.

“In the short term, our trade with Iraq will be good and even ideal until 2025, but in the long term, due to the conditions and the existence of competitors and other issues, our trade with Iraq will be difficult, and therefore it is necessary to maintain our presence in the Iraqi market by planning and foresight,” he stressed.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) data, Iran exported non-oil commodities valued at $3.5 billion to Iraq during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22).

Iraq was the second top export destination of Iranian non-oil goods in the mentioned five-month period.

As previously announced by an official with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the value of Iran’s exports to Iraq increased by 15 percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20).

Farzad Piltan, the director-general of TPO's Office of West Asian Countries, said that based on the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Iran exported commodities worth over $10 billion to its neighbor in the previous year.

By stating that Iraq is one of Iran's strategic partners, he put the value of Iran’s imports from Iraq at about $200 million in the past year.

Considering Iran's vast export capacity and Iraq's large market for Iranian goods, both sides want to expand the volume of bilateral economic exchanges.

Iran and Iraq have set a target of $20 billion in annual trade, and businessmen and authorities of both countries are determined to meet that target, Head of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Yahya Ale-Es’haq has stated.

“In general, Iran and Iraq have agreed to improve relations and change the monetary and banking conditions so that the central banks of the two countries will ease the current situation and solve the problems,” he has noted.

The current administration of Iran under President Raisi has shown great interest in broadening and enhancing trade and economic ties with neighboring states, Ale Es’haq has emphasized.

EF/MA