BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.23
Trend:
There have been negotiations for transit lines from Iran to Iraq and Syria via railway connection which would boost the economy in these countries, said the Minister of Road and Urban Development.
"The negotiations for transit from Iraq's soil and a railway connection to Iran have reached a good stage and is being pursued, "said Mohammad Eslami, Trend reports citing Mehr News Agency.
"There have been good negotiations in the recent meeting with an Iraqi delegation in Iran- Iraq Joint Economic Commission and it was approved that in next two months the negotiations in this regard would be detailed and two sides reach a memorandum of understanding for an equal amount of transportation between the two countries," he said.
"Iraqis have said the trade with Iran is one-sided and has no profit for Iraq. Iran would seek balance in trade with Iraq, so there would be an equal amount of cargo trucks transportation, our conclusion is that negotiations would reach a solution," Eslami pointed out.
The trilateral transportation cooperation between Iran, Iraq, and Syria were founded by Iran and there have been negotiations in the first Trilateral Joint Transport Commission in last Iranian year (started March 21, 2019) which was hosted by Tehran.
"The general agreement over Shalamcheh – Basra railway connection has been done and the main problem on the railway connection to Iran is a political issue. Iranian Foreign Minister has reached an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi over this issue in his recent visit to Baghdad and the Iraqi official has appointed a special representative for this issue," he noted
There have been several rounds of negotiations over Shalamcheh – Basra railway, Iraqi officials have visited the Shalamche area and it is expected that there would be reforms in Iran's border facilities which was the main obstacle in the implementation of the project.
"There have been negotiations for the participation of Iranian companies in Syria's reconstruction projects but the main issue is financing, guarantees, and banking relations between countriesWe hope the Central Bank of Iran would finalize its agreement with Syria for banking cooperation and money transactions," he added.