Minister calls for boosting trade ties with Saudi Arabia

Shafaq News / Iraqi Minister of Trade, Atheer Dawood Al-Ghurairi, described the trade exchange between Iraq and Saudi Arabia as falling short of meeting the ambitions of both nations. The statement came during his meeting with the Saudi Commercial Attaché in Baghdad, where they discussed various issues related to economic and trade cooperation, as well as ways to increase bilateral trade volume.

Al-Ghurairi emphasized the need to elevate the current trade volume between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, given the new government's commitment to opening up to global economies, including Saudi Arabia, to benefit from their experiences in economic development across various sectors. He also highlighted the importance of supporting the private sector in establishing genuine partnerships with their Saudi counterparts in promising investment projects.

During the meeting, the Minister directed the Director-General of the Ministry's Foreign Economic Relations Department to provide studies on the challenges and obstacles hindering the increase in bilateral trade volume, according to established criteria and indicators in this regard.

On the other side, the Saudi Commercial Attaché expressed the Kingdom's readiness to support Iraqi products and enhance the level of trade exchange to broader dimensions. He praised the Iraqi industry for its competitive specifications in the regional market.

Furthermore, he emphasized his country's logistical support for opening a commercial office at the Arar border crossing to expedite the export of certificates of invoices and origin, thus facilitating trade and commerce between Iraq and Saudi Arabia and serving their mutual interests.

In response, the Iraqi Minister affirmed that his ministry would expedite the opening of the commercial office once the administrative and legal procedures were completed.