Tehran, Baghdad set to bolster industrial, trade ties

TEHRAN,April 24(MNA) - Iran and Iraq have agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in different fields of industry and trade. Iranian Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari met with Iraqi Planning Minister Ali Yusuf al-Shukri, Industry and Minerals Minister Ahmed Nasser Al-Karbouli and Trade Minister Khairallah Hassan Babiker in Tehran on Monday. They agreed to hold an investment opportunities forum in Iraq in July. The Iraqi side called Iranian companies to actively participate in the Baghdad international exhibition. Launching joint ventures in steel industry and modernizing the standardization systems of Iraq by Iranian experts were among other agreements made during the meeting. It was scheduled that an Iraqi trade delegation to travel to Iran within the next 10 days in order to sign a deal for expanding two-way trade. Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said on July 2011 that Iran and Iraq had agreed to increase the value of their bilateral trade to $20 billion. Iran exported some $1 billion in electricity and oil products and the same amount in technical and engineering services to Iraq last year.