[caption id="attachment_133794" align="alignright" width="190"] Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Ali Tayyebnia[/caption]

TEHRAN – Iran and Iraq have the potential to boost annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from currently $12 billion, Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia stated.

“Considering that Iraqi infrastructures are being reconstructed, Iran is prepared to implement technical and engineering projects in Iraq, especially building roads, power plants, and dams,” Tayyebnia added.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Iran-Iraq High Joint Commission meeting, which was held in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Boosting transactions in tourism and technical-engineering sectors could annual bilateral trade to $20 billion from currently $12 billion, he added.

Iran and Iraq signed seven memorandums of understandings (MOU) to expand ties in different fields of economy.

The MOUs were signed in Baghdad on Monday in the presence of Iranian First Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The MOUs are mainly in the areas of trade, mining and geological surveys, tourism, road and air transportation, veterinary, and animal farming.

Jahangiri, heading a high-ranking economic-political delegation, arrived in Iraq on Monday for a three-day visit. The delegation’s trip is aimed at exploring the ways to expand ties with Iraq in trade, energy, construction, health and medical sectors as well as exports of technical-engineering services to the neighboring country.

Iran and Iraq are working to finalize a comprehensive trade document which could quintuple their bilateral trade to $30 billion per year.

In October 2014, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad-Reza Ne’matzadeh said increasing industrial, mining, and banking cooperation and launching joint ventures can give a great boost to the efforts to increase Iran-Iraq bilateral trade.

Iraq was the second biggest importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the Iran Customs Administration.

Iran exported $5.9 billion of non-oil goods to Iraq and imported $68.4 million of non-oil goods from the Arab country.

By Tehran Times