TEHRAN – The Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi has said that three joint industrial towns between Iran and Iraq will be launched in the border areas in the Iraqi provinces of Maysan, Basra and Wasit.
Khandouzi made the remarks on the sidelines of the unveiling ceremony of “Factoring System of Private Contracts”, held at the venue of the ministry.
Turning to the 5th Iran-Iraq Joint Economic Commission meeting held recently in Baghdad, he said, “Of the salient agreements made with the Iraqi officials and given the high potential of knowledge-based companies, joint production projects between Iran and Iraq with the high added value will be launched in the three provinces of Maysan, Basar and Wasit.”
He said that during his recent visit to Iraq, “We witnessed the materialization of the serious will between the two countries for the implementation of joint projects which have fallen into oblivion for years including the project of construction operation of the Shalamcheh-Basra Railway.”
In this regard, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the Iraqi government announced they are going to take effective steps in line with completing the construction operation of this giant railway project, the economy minister added.
Of other issues discussed between Iranian and Iraqi authorities at the 5th Iran-Iraq Joint Economic Commission meeting, he pointed to the technical and engineering services and said that the two countries vowed to enhance their cooperation in this field.
Khandouzi also referred to the 20-percent growth of trade exchanges between Iran and Iraq in the 11 months of the current Iranian year ( March 21, 2022 to February 21, 2023) and added that bilateral trade volume would be increased in the next Iranian calendar year of 1402 (to start March 21, 2023).