TEHRAN – Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) hosted a gathering on Tuesday between representatives of Iran and Iraq’s private companies active in the construction industry, the ICCIMA portal reported.

As reported, in the meeting which was attended by officials, businessmen, entrepreneurs and company representatives from both sides active in the construction industry, the two sides explored avenues of cooperation and contribution of Iranian private sectors in the reconstruction of Iraq.

According to the data provided by the Iraqi side, the Arab country’s infrastructure has suffered nearly $45 billion of damage during the Daesh groups’ attacks in the country and the country requires $88 billion of investment to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure.

In this regard, the Board of Directors of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce stated that Iran has the capacity to expand its presence in Iraq’s infrastructure projects and to invest jointly with Iraqi parties. 

Speaking in the meeting, Mohammad Amirzadeh, deputy head of ICCIMA, expressed the Iranian private sector’s readiness for cooperation with Iraqi companies in reconstruction of Iraq and noted that Iran is well positioned in the maritime industry, road construction, engineering services, power supply technology and other industries and could have a significant impact on the reconstruction process of Iraq by investing in the country.

Further in the event, the Secretary General of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Hamid Hosseini expressed hope that Iranian companies could form consortiums with private and state-run Iraqi companies in order to play a significant role in the country’s infrastructure projects.

“Iranian companies have competitive advantages in Iraq’s housing and engineering services sector and should use this opportunity for expansion of their presence in Iraq, though there are some difficulties along the way, especially considering the financial complexities imposed by the U.S. sanctions,” he said.

Iran and Iraq have been taking significant steps for boosting economic relations in the past few years.

The two countries are following up plans for increasing their bilateral economic trade to over $20 billion.

EF/MA