Stronger Trade With Neighbors Should Take Precedence

Iranian leaders should pursue deeper economic ties with neighboring countries, particularly Iraq, instead of obsessing over a European trade vehicle conceived as a way to avert US sanctions against Tehran, an economic analyst said. 
“The way out of economic problems is not looking to the West and European countries, but rather increasing trade and economic ties, and interacting with neighbors,” Mohammad Kohandel, an expert on international economics, also told the Iranian Diplomacy website in a recent interview. 
He said President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to Baghdad, which is Iran’s major neighboring trade partner, can be considered a “great and important step” toward expansion of bilateral economic relations.