TEHRAN – Tehran and Baghdad have agreed that their nationals will not have to pay visa fees for crossing borders.

The agreement reached on Tuesday and the scheme will be implemented within the next weeks, sources reported.

An Iranian delegation headed by President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on March 11 for a three-day visit amid his government’s efforts to expand ties with Iraq to reduce the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran's economy.

The two sides agreed to waive fees on visas in the hope of increasing the number of tourists to help boost local economies and bring their peoples closer.

Some two million Iraqi nationals visited Iran during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2018), constituting Iran’s largest source of tourists. In return, hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims head for the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala each year.

AFM/MQ/MG