Iran, Iraq Readying for Jump in Economic Cooperation

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Iraqi officials said the two sides are working on a number of agreements to expand their mutual economic cooperation, and added that the documents of these agreements will be concluded and inked during an upcoming visit to Baghdad by Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari here in Tehran on Tuesday that the two sides plan to ink several agreements during Rahimi's visit to Baghdad on July 6.

According to Salehi, the documents include "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.

The aim of forming the Iran-Iraq Joint Supreme Economic Committee is to expand economic relations between the two countries.