Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan to Further Expand Trade Cooperation

Iran and Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are keen to further expand their trade cooperation, an Iranian official said after Tehran resumed exports of goods to the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Exports of goods from Qasr-e-Shirin border city to Iraqi Kurdistan region was resumed after halt due to Nowrouz holidays.

“A total of 70 trucks loaded with Iran’s export commodities passed from Parviz Khan and Khosravi border check post of Qasr-e-Shirin to reach Iraqi Kurdish cities,” Governor of Qasr-e-Shirin Hossein Parvin said on Sunday, stressing both sides’ interest in further development of trade ties and cooperation.

Qasr-e-Shirin has two official border check posts of Parviz Khan and Khosravi with Iraq.

Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan region have enjoyed growing ties ever since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, during the 2003 US invasion of the Muslim country.

A senior Iraqi Kurdish official announced in July that the value of the trade ties between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan region will exceed $4bln this year thanks to the two sides’ growing cooperation.

“This year, the maximum value of our trade activities will exceed $4bln and such a boost is certainly the result of further cooperation,” Representative of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Nazzem Dabbaq told FNA at the time, adding that the value of bilateral trade ties with Iran was $100 million in 2000.

He voiced Kurdistan’s willingness to boost trade ties with Iran, and noted, “The present and the future of Iran and Kurdistan are tied to each other. They should always have continued contacts with each other.”

Also in July, Deputy Head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Barham Salih was in Iran to explore avenues for the further development of the bilateral relations between the two sides.

During the five-day trip, Salih discussed consolidation of PUK relations with Iran as well as the role, importance and expansion of Iraq’s ties with the Islamic Republic.