Tehran, Iran, March 11
Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit neighboring Iraq on March 11 at the official invitation of his Iraqi counterpart to discuss bilateral ties.
The Iranian consulate in Karbala Mir Masoud Hosseinian has announced that the purpose of the visit is to boost bilateral trade to $20 billion.
"Given that Iran and Iraq are neighboring countries and have a long common border and good relations, this visit is important for the development of bilateral relations in trade," Hosseinian told Trend. “Now, we have $12 billion worth exchange of goods with Iraq, which we plan to increase to $20 billion.”
It will be Rouhani's first official visit to Iraq during his tenure and after the slap of the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic last year.
"The president's visit to foreign countries has certain conditions; the head of the judiciary, speaker of parliament, and the ministers had already traveled to Iraq during Rouhani`s term, but at the presidential level, certain conditions had to be prepared,” he said.
He noted that ahead of any trip of the president, bilateral agreements must reach the final stage. The initial MoUs have been signed at the ministerial level, so the president has to sign the final agreements, noted Hosseinian.
On Feb. 5, the governor of Iran's central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, announced that Iranian traders could open accounts in Iraqi banks to carry out their transactions under a new payment system agreed between the two neighbors.
The deal, signed in Baghdad by Iran’s Abdolnasser Hemmati and Iraq’s Ali Mohsen Al-Allaq, mainly focuses on a payment channel that is to facilitate the settlement of the Arab country’s debts to Tehran over gas and electricity imports, among others.
In addition to natural gas and electricity, Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran, including food, agricultural products, home appliances, and air conditioners.