Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran Ali Tayyip Nea that the volume of economic cooperation between Iran and Iraq has reached more than 12 billion U.S. dollars last year, while explained that this cooperation includes transit and exports of electricity and gas from Iran to Iraq, exports of technical and engineering services.

The energy minister said Iran during a meeting on Monday economic delegation Iraqi trade under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Rose Nuri Shaways, that «his country does not place restrictions to the development of economic relations with neighboring countries and the volume of trade of goods of non-oil between the two countries amounted to six billion dollars during the year past ».

He stressed the importance of good Nia role and place of cooperation in the fields of banking, insurance and specifications to facilitate economic and trade relations.

The two sides discussed areas of mutual cooperation and strengthening economic relations between the two countries and the horizon of development and overcome the obstacles and difficulties.

For his part, Shawis pointed to the strategic dimensions of the relations between the two sides confirmed the intention of Iraq’s hard to develop comprehensive relations with Iran.

Shaways said, it «will discuss in this visit, which was accompanied by a delegation economically and financially high-level cooperation frameworks in those areas and to the benefit of the two peoples».

He added that «the economic relations is one of the pillars of the relations between the two countries».

The two sides expressed satisfaction over the progress of talks between the members of the delegation and presented their counterparts who arrived two days ago to Tehran.

The meeting was attended purity of net debt, Finance Minister, Sami al-Araji, head of the National Investment Commission and Ms. Hamdiya dry, Director General of Trade Bank of Iraq and the Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Tehran.

The volume of trade exchange between Iraq and Iran in the year 2013 record high levels to reach, according to officials from both Iraq and Iran to more than 12 billion dollars at a time when the Iraqi government aims to increase that to more than 15 billion dollars.

She Baghdad, it «is seeking to strengthen relations between the neighboring countries, without exception, and that Iran has economic leverage with Iraq, especially in the years after 2003, as well as the ease of communication of trade between Iraq and Iran in terms of transport and quality of the goods and the other, so it is obvious that there would be an increase in the volume of trade with Iran ».

For its part, Iran insists on the lips of official commercial department at the Iranian embassy in Iraq, Mahmoud Bhazair in an interview, that «ambitious Iran to reach trade exchange with Iraq to nearly 20 billion dollars by the end 2017, where he still ranges between 10 billion and 13 billion dollars, according to Our monitoring of the market until the end of the month of November 2013 ».

And between Bhazair, that «this increase will be through investment in gas and electricity as Iran issued at this time to Iraq, 25 billion cubic meters of gas as Iraq imports electricity from Iran by 400 megawatts through three lines are the first line of Kermanshah – Diyala line Serpil Zahab – Khanaqin line of Abadan – Basra, and fed these provinces across power lines high pressure ».

newsabah.com