Iranian VP to Visit Iraq Early July

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi is scheduled to visit Iraq on July 6 to attend a meeting of Tehran-Baghdad High Commission of Economic Cooperation.
The announcement was made by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and during a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari here in Tehran on Tuesday.

Salehi further mentioned that the two sides plan to ink several agreements during Rahimi's visit to Baghdad, including "four agreements on avoidance of double taxation, customs cooperation, encouragement and support for joint investment, and economic and trade cooperation".

Salehi also referred to the current annual volume of trade and economic exchanges between the two countries which stands at $4-5bln, and said, "The two countries' capacities and potentials are beyond this level (of exchange) and we hope that Mr. Rahimi's visit would open the way to increase the volume of exchanges to a remarkable amount."

The meeting of the two countries' High Commission for Economic Cooperation will be held on July 6 with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Rahimi in attendance.

Earlier, Maliki had stressed his country's resolve to further boost ties with Iran in different fields.

He said in May that Iraq was determined to pave the way for bolstering positive cooperation among the regional countries, adding that Baghdad seeks to have an active presence in the region through promoting a new economic system.

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

Both sides are working on a series of plans to take wide strides in the expansion of their ties, in economic fields in particular.