SHANA -- An Iranian gas official said the country was ready to start supplying natural gas to the housing, commercial and industrial sectors of neighboring Iraq.

Speaking to Shana, Behzad Babazadeh, director of international affairs of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said the company had held a meeting with Iraq's power ministry in a bid to exchange experiences in construction of gas pipelines and gas distribution to various sectors of the latter including the households, industries and commercials sectors.

"For Iraq, the first priority is supplying gas to power plants then industries and households," he said.

"Gas supply to the industrial sites of Iraq is very important for this country, and we are also trying to exploit this opportunity to supply the industries that are on the route of the Iranian gas export pipelines to Baghdad and Basra," the official added.