TEHRAN- Iran exported non-oil commodities valued at $5.4 billion to Iraq during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

According to Mohammad Rezvanifar, Iraq was the second top export destination of Iranian non-oil goods in the mentioned seven-month period.

As previously announced by an official with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the value of Iran’s export 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 the strategic partners of Iran in the field of foreign trade and especially exports, he put the value of Iran’s import 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. 

In late September, Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) hosted an Iran-Iraq business conference in which officials from the two sides discussed ways of expanding mutual business relations.

Speaking at the conference, TPO Head Mehdi Zeyghami stressed the need to balance the trade between the two countries, saying: “The level of trade and economic relations between Iran and Iraq has increased significantly in recent years, and the figure can be increased up to 40 billion dollars if the two sides’ trade is balanced.”

The government of Iran is ready to cooperate with Iraq for the industrial development of the country in the 2035 horizon, he noted, saying: “Iran is ready to transfer technology to Iraq and develop industrial projects in the country.”

“We hope to achieve the goals outlined by the presidents of the two countries by solving issues related to logistics and financial transactions,” the official added.

Iran and Iraq have stressed the need to use the national currencies of the two countries to enhance mutual trade relations.

During a meeting between Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Abbas Ali-Abadi and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani in Baghdad on October 31, the two sides emphasized using the national currencies for bilateral trade exchanges.

In the meeting, which took place in the Iraqi Prime Minister's office in Baghdad, the economic relations between the two countries and ways to strengthen them and strengthen exchanges and partnerships at different levels were discussed and explored.

In a statement issued at the time, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office said, “Today, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani hosted Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Abbas Ali-Abadi. In this meeting, the two sides explored avenues for strengthening bilateral relations and bolstering mutual trade exchanges and participating in various fields.”

The Iraqi prime minister expressed his country’s readiness to expand bilateral cooperation in the fields of petrochemical industries and fertilizers.

According to this statement, Iran’s minister of industry, while conveying the warm greetings of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, emphasized the need for advancing trade and economic projects in the face of existing economic challenges in the region and the world.

MA