Ankara, Baghdad to look for ways to raise trade volume to $20B target

Two important regional actors, Turkey and its southern neighbor Iraq have been accelerating their efforts to further improve their deepening ties in every area, particularly after the establishment of the new government in Baghdad. The will to boost cooperation has also been reflected in the recent high-level bilateral visits. Accompanied by a delegation of about 100 businesspeople, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan is set to pay an official visit to Iraq later this month. On the other hand, Turkey has set up a group to solve Iraq’s water problem, an issue that has also been one of the primary issues discussed between the officials of the two countries.

Trade Minister Pekcan will meet with her Iraqi counterpart Mohamed Hashim al-Ani and other ministers on June 20 and will attend the Turkey-Iraq Business Forum. Contacts during the visit said will focus on ways to increase the bilateral trade volume to the targeted level of $20 billion.

Besides the existing sectors, Trade Minister Pekcan has emphasized that they also want other sectors such as automotive and machinery to boost their presence in the Iraqi market. On the other hand, Pekcan has said Turkish contracting companies have so far undertaken around 987 projects valued at $25.9 billion in Iraq.

The reconstruction would include war and terror-destroyed cities, ruined roads, buildings, damaged electricity production capacity and distribution networks and much more.

Relations between the two neighboring countries have gained momentum with the high-level visits over the recent months. In late April, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Iraq and met with his counterpart Mohamed Ali Alhakim. In January, Iraqi President Barham Salih also visited Turkey and held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreeing on enhancing cooperation in all fields. Last month, Erdoğan received Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

During his visit, Çavuloğlu had said President Erdoğan is expected to visit Iraq by the end of this year. Erdoğan will visit Iraq to hold the 4th High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council meeting.