Iraq, Iran eye free trade zones

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File photo: Iraq’s new President Barham Salih (R) meets Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on his official visit to Tehran AFPn

DUBAI, Nov 17, (Agencies): Iran and Iraq could raise their annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from the current level of $12 billion, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, despite concerns over the economic impact of renewed US sanctions.

Rouhani’s remarks, made after a meeting with visiting Iraqi President Barham Saleh, came about two weeks after the United States restored sanctions targeting Iran’s key oil industry as well as its banking and transportation sectors. “… through bilateral efforts, we can raise this figure (for bilateral trade) to $20 billion in the near future,” Rouhani said in comments broadcast live on Iranian state television.

“We held talks on trade in electricity, gas, petroleum products and activities … in the field of oil exploration and extraction,” Rouhani said. Iraqi officials told Reuters last week that Iraq had agreed to sell foodstuffs in return for Iranian gas and energy supplies. Iranian trade officials denied that any food-for-gas scheme could be set up as Iran was a net exporter of food to Iraq.

“The opposite is correct, since Iran provides foodstuffs to Iraq … We have exported more than $6 billion to Iraq in the past seven months and we could import goods for that amount but not food items,” Yahya Al-e Eshaq, head of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce, was quoted as saying by the ILNA news agency. A spokesman for an association of Iranian gas and petrochemicals exporters said Iraq wanted to pay for the gas imports in its dinar currency, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported. Baghdad is seeking US approval to allow it to import Iranian gas for its power stations. Iraqi officials say they needs more time to find an alternative source than a 45-day waiver granted to it by the United States.

“It will be important to create free trade zones at our shared border and to connect the two countries’ railways,” Saleh said. “We will not forget your support for the Iraqi people in the fight against (Iraqi dictator) Saddam (Hussein). Neither do we forget Iran’s stand in the recent fight against terrorism,” added Saleh, an Iraqi Kurd. Iran wields wide infl uence in Iraq, its smaller Arab neighbour, where its Revolutionary Guards played a key role in training and arming the mainly Shi’ite militias that helped defeat Islamic State. Iraq imports a wide range of goods from Iran, including food, agricultural products, home appliances, air conditioners and spare car parts.

The goods element of Iranian imports to Iraq was worth about $6 billion in the 12 months ending March 2018, or about 15 percent of Iraq’s total imports for 2017. Energy contracts also contribute to the total volume of bilateral trade. Iraqi central bank officials said in August that their country’s economy was closely linked to non-Arab Iran, which is engaged in several proxy wars with Saudi Arabia in the region. Saleh, meanwhile, began a visit to Iran on Saturday, where he pledged to improve relations less than two weeks after the United States restored oil sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran, which has had major influence over Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, is hoping to maintain exports to its neighbor despite the renewed sanctions. Iraq is Iran’s second-largest market after China, buying everything from food and machinery to electricity and natural gas. At a joint briefing after their meeting, Rouhani said they discussed increasing trade in electricity and oil products and the establishment of free trade zones along the border. He said they also discussed joint oil projects and improving transport links between the two countries. Trade between the two countries was some $7 billion in 2017, and they have vowed to boost it to $8.5 billion this year.

Rouhani said it could eventually reach $20 billion a year. Saleh also pledged to improve ties, and suggested the formation of a “new regional system” including Iraq and Iran, one based on “political integrity, national interests and cooperation between nations and governments.” He did not elaborate. US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May. United Nations monitors say Iran still abides by the deal, in which it agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

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