Tasnim � The managing director of the state-owned Iraqi Republic Railways (IRR) company highlighted the positive effects of US sanctions against Iran and said the country has gained major achievements due to the economic pressures.

Speaking at a trilateral meeting between the IRR and its Iranian and Syrian counterparts, Talib Jawad Kazim praised Iran�s achievements in railroad industry and said the sanctions have made Iran archive great successes.

He further pointed to the railroad project connecting Iran�s Shalamcheh to Iraq�s Basra and said his country is willing to speed up the project so that the two countries� rail networks are connected to each other and then connected to Syria.

The Iraqi official went on to say that the railroad is the backbone of a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) between the two nations.

During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani�s visit to Iraq in March, the two countries signed five deals to promote cooperation in various fields.

The documents entail cooperation between Iran and Iraq concerning the Basra-Shalamcheh railroad project, visa facilitation for investors, cooperation in the health sector, and agreements between the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran and Ministry of Trade of Iraq, and another one in the field of oil between the petroleum ministries of the two countries.

Iran�s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani has said that Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to reach the target of raising the value of annual trade exchange to $20 billion within two years.