Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari reviewed bilateral trade and commercial ties in a meeting in Tehran on Sunday.
Referring to friendly and amicable relations between Iran and Iraq, Zarif called for maximum use of capacities to meet interests of the two nations, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on September 6.
He expressed Iran's readiness to boost economic and commercial ties with Iraq, hoping to resolve problems of Iranian contractors working in Iraq.
Zebari, for his part, appreciated Iran for helping Iraq fight against terrorism in the region. He termed bilateral economic relations as 'progressing' and called for ever more expansion of relations.
Iran's minister of finance and economic affairs says Tehran and Baghdad could pump up mutual trade to $20 billion.
Iran-Iraq trade currently stands at $12 billion if transit and tourism are also taken into account, said Ali Tayyebnia, adding, "The figure could easily be increased to $20 billion, and we will reach this target in the near future."