Türkiye and Iraq on Tuesday reiterated their willingness to spice up their bilateral commerce and investments throughout what marked the newest high-level contact over the previous month aimed toward enhancing ties between the 2 neighboring nations.
A newly introduced multibillion-dollar regional transportation venture, in addition to the resumption of Iraqi Kurdish oil exports via Türkiye’s Mediterranean Ceyhan port, have additionally been excessive on the agenda throughout visits of high Turkish officers.
Last to reach in Baghdad, Ömer Bolat, Türkiye’s commerce minister, met Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, Deputy Prime Minister and Planning Minister Muhammed Ali Temim, in addition to his counterpart Atheer Daoud Al-Ghurairy.
The sides agreed to enhance financial and industrial relations, strengthen investments and take away associated obstacles.
Rashid stated Baghdad desires to see Turkish firms that play an necessary function within the reconstruction and revitalization of Iraq become involved within the nation’s new initiatives, Bolat wrote on social media platform X, previously referred to as Twitter.
The president additionally highlighted that Türkiye is “one of the most important partners of Iraq and that they will continue to support our companies in all regions of Iraq,” the minister added.
“During the visit, we expressed our priorities to increase our trade with Iraq and to ensure that our companies are more involved in contracting projects in Iraq.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Bolat and Al-Ghurairy each careworn their authorities’s willingness to extend their goal for bilateral commerce quantity, which reached $24.2 billion (TL 643.83 billion) in 2022.
Türkiye’s exports to its southern neighbor rose 24% from 2021 to $13.7 billion, whereas imports surged 24% to $10.4 billion, in line with official information.
Accompanied by a big business individuals delegation, Bolat highlighted what he stated was a report commerce quantity and added that Turkish contractors had been dominating the Iraqi market.
“We agreed to carry out a planned study aimed at further increasing our trade volume and creating solutions to the problems faced by our companies and to encourage our private sectors to have closer dialogue,” the minister famous.
Al-Ghurairy echoed Bolat’s view, saying that Turkish builders had been probably the most quite a few in Iraq in comparison with different nation’s firms. He famous that the companies must also strongly have interaction in business, service and different fields in Iraq.
He additionally underscored that Al Sudani had instructed authorities “to overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of economic, commercial and investment relations between the two countries.”
“It is necessary to increase the trade volume that will serve the common interest and to create the necessary environment for investment,” he famous.
In his talks with Al Sudani, Bolat careworn the prime minister’s dedication to encourage efforts to ease practices and processes associated to commerce visas, banking, customs, commerce and investments.
Multibillion-dollar venture
The sides additionally weighed on the $17 billion Development Road venture that goals to facilitate the circulate of products from Asia to Europe and is designed to remodel the nation’s economic system after many years of conflict and disaster.
Announced by Al Sudani in late May, the venture will facilitate the motion of products from the Gulf to Europe via the Grand Faw Port in Basra, in oil-rich southern Iraq, which might be related to Türkiye, then to Europe, via a community of railways and highways.
Bolat stated the Turkish authorities earnestly supported the venture.
“We expressed our desire to work in close cooperation in the context of the Development Road project, which is of strategic importance for our region, and that our companies are ready to play an active role in all projects that will contribute to the development of Iraq, especially our contracting sector,” stated Bolat.
Nasir al-Esedi, Al Sudani’s advisor for transportation, stated Monday that Iraq intends to signal offers on the venture with Türkiye quickly.
The deliberate venture will contain the development of about 1,200 kilometers (about 745 miles) of railways and highways, turning the nation right into a transit hub by shortening journey time between Asia and Europe in a bid to rival the Suez Canal.
Al Sudani praised the function of Turkish firms in Iraq’s infrastructure works, noting that additionally they have the potential to develop the Development Road venture, an announcement by his workplace stated.
“We are pleased with the serious interaction shown by Türkiye in the Development Road Project,” he famous.
“There is an important potential for Turkish companies to realize development in Iraq. The role of these companies in infrastructure works in Iraq is also important.”
Oil exports
The prime minister drew consideration to the significance of mutual visits and careworn that this is able to strengthen the relations of the 2 nations in numerous fields.
As a part of expanded contacts, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan flew to Iraq final week.
Their contacts, amongst others, primarily weighed on the power and financial and safety relations.
Bayraktar stated Monday that Türkiye goals to expedite the revival and make the pipeline from Iraq’s Kurdistan area to the Turkish port of Ceyhan operational as quickly as attainable.
Türkiye halted Iraq’s 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The ICC ordered Türkiye to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it stated had been unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
On the opposite hand, Ankara stated the ICC had acknowledged most of Türkiye’s calls for. Its Energy Ministry stated the chamber ordered Iraq to compensate Türkiye for a number of violations in regards to the case.
Given the availability constraints within the worldwide oil market, markets are intently monitoring the developments across the pipeline’s reactivation.
Representatives from Iraq’s Oil Ministry have indicated that extra negotiations with Ankara is perhaps needed earlier than the pipeline may be totally operational as soon as once more.
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg News report on Friday urged Türkiye was searching for a compromise over competing calls for from Iraq and the KRG over revenue-sharing from oil exports.
The sides have in the meantime agreed to finalize pipeline upkeep earlier than resuming oil circulate.
Bayraktar on Monday stated upkeep operations had been nearly full.
“We are carrying out these activities in utmost coordination,” he instructed the general public broadcaster TRT Haber. “Our goal is to put the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline into operation as soon as possible.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
