Baku, Azerbaijan, April 26
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The value of annual trade between Iran and Iraq is expected to reach $20 billion.
Majid Qorbani Faraz, an official at the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, said that if the money exchange problems are removed, the bilateral trade is expected to hit $20 billon in the current Iranian year, which ends on March 20, 2015, Iran's IRIB reported on April 26.
He referred to construction materials, tiles, and ceramics, foodstuff, dairies, and fresh fruits, as the main goods which are exported from Iran to Iraq.
In December 2013, Iraq's Undersecretary of Trade Yehya Ahmad Faraj said Iraqi traders are eager to "import Iranian goods, given their competitive prices and the ease of transporting goods and bringing them into Iraq."
He told Al-Monitor that the Iraqi market is large enough to handle more commercial exchanges with Iran.
Abdul Hussein al-Anbaki, who advises Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on economic affairs, said his country mainly imports canned food, meats, vegetable oil, soft drinks, household items and electrical appliances from Iran.
Al-Maliki's media advisor, Ali Musawi, praised Iran for facilitating economic exchange between the two neighbors.
Al-Monitor also quoted Mahmoud Behzar, director of commercial affairs of the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, as saying Tehran aspires to have $20 billion worth of trade with Iraq by late 2017.
"According to our market observations, commercial exchange reached $10-13 billion by the end of November 2013," he said.