TEHRAN- 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.

As announced on Friday by a board member of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, the value of Iran’s daily exports to Iraq is about $30 million, half of which is related to oil and gas exports, and the other half is related to goods exports.

Hamid Hosseini said, “Considering the favorable situation of exports to Iraq this [Iranian calendar) year (ends on March 20), it is expected that our export record to this country will be broken and exceeds $9 billion.”

“Although our exports to Iraq experienced some problems during a period of this year, statistics show that Iran's exports to Iraq are currently favorable”, he added.

Also, in mid-December, Head of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Yahya Ale-Es’haq said trade challenges between the two countries have been mostly resolved and bilateral trade is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

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, Ale-Es’haq said at the time.

According to the official, Iran and Iraq have had the experience of reaching $14 billion in annual trade in previous years.

Referring to the Iraqi prime minister's recent visit to Iran, he noted that various areas of cooperation including joint investments, oil and gas, and collaboration in the economic sector were discussed during that trip.

“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 added.

The value of Iran’s exports to Iraq rose 20 percent during the previous Iranian calendar year (which ended on March 20, 2022) as compared to the preceding year.

Iran exported $8.916 billion worth of commodities to its neighbor in the mentioned year, making Iraq the Islamic Republic’s second-biggest trade partner.

Exports to Iraq accounted for 18.3 percent of the country’s total non-oil shipments in the previous year.

Iran and Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on economic cooperation back in January 2021, at the end of the fourth meeting of the two countries’ Joint Economic Committee.

According to the chairman of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, despite all events that are happening in the region, the relationship between the two countries of Iran and Iraq is on an upward trajectory.

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.