TEHRAN - Iran and Iraq are planning to expand bilateral relations in various agricultural fields, an official with the Iranian Agriculture Ministry announced on Sunday, IRNA reported.

Speaking in a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Naseer Abdul Mohsen Abdullah, the Agriculture Ministry’s Director-General for Specialized Organizations and International Affairs Alimorad Sarafrazi referred to the close relations between the two countries and stressed the need to set up various specialized working groups in the field of agriculture.

He then referred to some challenges and obstacles in the way of trade relations between the two countries and stated that improving and establishing mechanisms for plant quarantine, monitoring livestock health at common borders of the two countries, creating unity of procedure at different border crossings between the two countries and also promoting infrastructures for transporting goods between the two countries seem essential in that respect.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sarafrazi called for the timely announcement of bans and restrictions on the export of Iranian agricultural products to the Arab country in order to prevent damage to Iranian exporters and producers.

He also underlined the need for exchanging technical knowledge in various agricultural fields between the two countries.

Iraqi envoy to Tehran, for his part, pointed to the longstanding political, economic, social, cultural, and especially agricultural relations between the two countries and welcomed the proposal of the Iranian side for setting up specialized working groups in the relevant fields.

He promised to expedite the announcement of bans and tariff restrictions from relevant Iraqi authorities and called for increased cooperation between Iran and Iraq in the field of livestock and plant health monitoring and the transfer of technical knowledge to Iraq and the formation of a working group in this regard.

EF/MA