Shafaq News/  the rates of bilateral trade at the Mandali border crossing with Iran, east of Diyala Governorate increased by 20% in the last months, an official in Diyala said today, Thursday,

Mandali director, Mazen Akram told Shafaq News agency, "many citizens benefit from Mandali’s border crossing reopening and from the increasing of trading."

Last July, Iraq reopened its Mandali border crossing with Iran after more than three months of closure to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.

Iraq closed its international borders and governmental boundaries in March except for the delivery of essential goods such as food as it sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Iran is one of Iraq’s biggest trading partners. Both countries’ economies are in crisis. Iran continues to suffer from U.S. sanctions and Iraq is reeling from low prices of oil, which accounts for almost all its state revenue.

Statistics showed that the bilateral trade between the two countries is about 12 billion $ annually.