Iraqi-Turkish trade cooperation

Turkish Minister of State Edip Safter Gaydali said on Sunday in Baghdad that the volume of trade and commercial cooperation between his country and Iraq will shortly increase to US $2.5 billion, the same level of trade as in 1990.

Gaydali, who arrived on Saturday in Baghdad on top of a delegation comprising 200 officials and traders, added that Turkey's aim was to reach this figure. He said this figure will be also surpassed in the coming phase, noting the opportunities available to the two sides to increase joint cooperation and the volume of trade exchange.

On the project of building a pipeline to transfer Iraqi gas to Turkey, Gaydali said that Turkish and Iraqi technicians will discuss these matters and projects.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Minister of Oil Amer Rashid expressed his optimism over the possibility of achieving important strides towards developing trade and economic relations between Iraq and Turkey during the current joint Turkish-Iraqi meetings.

The statements of the Turkish minister of state came at the conclusion of the first meeting of the joint Turkish- Iraqi committee on trade and economic cooperation, which discusses the expansion of areas of trade, economic and technical exchange in the framework of the oil-for-food agreement.