Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhundi, conferred with Iraq’s Minister of Reconstruction and Housing, Tariq Al-Khikani, in Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported. He reiterated Iran’s readiness to export technical and engineering services to Iraq.
The Iranian minister referred to his latest visit to Iraq when the two sides agreed to undertake the construction of three major projects in Karbala – a holy city southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad – and vowed that Iran will help finance these projects.
Al-Khikani, for his part, said his country welcomes Iranian investors and reassured them that they will be safe working and doing business in Iraq.
Improving economic ties with neighboring countries and promoting non-oil exports top the government’s agenda ever since revenues from oil exports shrank significantly due to slump in global prices.
Iraq, an immediate neighbor, is the most significant export market for Iran’s non-oil exports.
However, the main challenge in the export Iranian products to Iraq is poor marketing, head of International Research Development Center in Basra, Majed Rashek Abd-Allah Fartoosi said in a visit to Abadan Industrial Park, in southwestern Khuzestan Province.
The Iraqi official, who is also head of Basra Industrial Chamber, underscored the vitality of marketing and said Iranian commodities can sell much better in Iraq once they are properly introduced and advertised.
