Bilateral trade between Iran and Iraq has been improving and is expected to hit $10 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023), according to Yahya Al-e Eshaq, the chairman of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Referring to a $20 billion target for trade between the two neighboring countries, Al-e Eshaq said that obstacles on the way of Iran-Iraq trade have been removed.
Noting that the businesspersons share goals with the authorities to give a boost to bilateral trade, he said that the two countries had previously registered bigger trade volumes including a $14 billion one.
He said that trade between Iran and Iraq has been witnessing ups and downs which has been as a result of a wide range of issues such as reducing global trade which has also affected the volume of trade between Tehran and Baghdad.
Al-e Eshaq said that Iran’s electricity and energy exports have been excluded from the statistics of bilateral trade which has also contributed to falling trade volume between the two neighbors.
He noted that the bans on exports and imports of certain commodities by both Iran and Iraq have also resulted in changes in bilateral trade volume.