you are with the economy desk . i gave you a short introduction. let's check some statistics together . our trade with iraq last year was approximately ten and a half billion dollars, and the main part of this trade was our exports to iraq, and in terms of imports, it was very special import from iraq. we don't have it. it can almost be said that a one-way trade relationship is forming between us and iraq, which has always been criticized by experts because , anyway, trade is elementary and it is necessary that the relations between the two countries always have a numerical balance. the latest statistics are almost in 5 months, what was announced it happened that our trade with iraq was 4.5 billion dollars, which is about 13 to 15 percent of the average 50 billion dollars that iraq imports. we provide the same tens

of billions that i told you about. one of our competitors , who we used to copy with guests before the program , is from turkey . it is almost two or three percent more than us. it operates there. private sector activists are comparing this a lot. the facilities that are available in neighboring countries to be in a country like arab and the business opportunities that exist there are similar to our country and the support that our government provides. more details. challenges and opportunities facing the country. we are in business with iraq, we want to address it in today's program. before we start talking with the guests of the program, my colleague in the foreign trade group of sada wasim news agency prepared a report. i invite you to see him together, come back and continue our conversation. iraq is one of the 15 neighboring countries and the second destination of iranian goods. by the end of august 2014, our exports were 4.6 billion dollars with a growth of 27.

compared to last year, most of our export goods to iraq are finished products, which means these goods cover all chains. in our own country , many people are involved in bringing it to an end and creating many jobs in this field. with the increase in the incomes of this western neighbor in recent years , there has been a suitable opportunity for the presence of businessmen and economic activists in this country. iraq , as our neighbor, is a country that is first of all rich, in any case, it is a country that has huge oil resources, and with the acquisition of huge oil resources, more than 100 billion dollars a year in oil sales , being in this pristine market is not without competitors, our main competitors are the emirates, turkey, china, followed by saudi arabia, jordan, which has the same volume. export there is less of it in egypt. price and quality along with

achieving a balance in trade are important points for a stronger presence in the market of this western neighbor , the same iraqi market that was mentioned . let's move towards joint investment. the iraqi statesmen's perspective on the islamic republic is that we are friends when it comes to economic cooperation. export to you and we would like to reduce this trade balance anyway, from the point of view of commercial activists, solving banking issues along with customs issues in the first the foreign trip of the head of the 14th government will help to further develop trade with iraq. the horizontal interactions we have with iraq is really a problem, and one of our demands, god willing, from the honorable president is that, god willing , he can

raise this issue with the prime minister of iraq during his trip. according to experts , the trade volume of the two countries can reach 20 billion dollars . zahra tizcheng of sed and sima news agency. yes , we saw and heard the report of our colleagues together. before we start our conversation with the guests inside the studio , we communicate with mr. rabi hawi, the general manager of the office west asia trade development organization is established , they are with us from iraq and are part of the team accompanying mr. president. mr. rabi hawi said. what facilities are going to be provided during this trip, specifically , what will be the focus of the negotiations in the economic field between the president and the iraqi authorities, in the name of allah, the most merciful, the most merciful , as you have requested, today the honorable president of the islamic republic of iran is on a trip to iraq and the city of baghdad, and now the program different things in this trip to baghdad and now. other

provinces of iraq are looking for important economic, cultural, social and political issues in this trip they are investigating the issues. which is very important for us, there is the issue of the documents that were signed during this trip, about 14 documents were signed by the senior officials of the two countries, and in any case , there are a series of economic documents in these documents, which, in my opinion, are the most important the document of the cooperation between the ministry of labor and the ministry of labor of iraq is the document between the two countries and the document of the chambers of commerce, which

was one of the most important economic documents between the two countries. also today , god willing, a meeting will be arranged in about half an hour. given that, god willing, companies with economic activity in iraq can meet with you in this meeting, the honorable president will surely bring the problems and issues that iranian companies are involved with in iraq to the attention of the honorable president , along with solutions through economic experts. and also. friends who are related to the iraqi market, god willing, one of the discussions that we are looking for in this meeting is the issue of technical and engineering service companies and the entry of technical and engineering service companies into the iraqi market, which we will

ask the president, god willing. negotiations with senior iraqi officials they can solve the problems and obstacles that

are present in entering the market of iranian investors who, with joint investment in iraq, are looking to be able to sell goods and products produced in iraq , as well as commercial and economic services. there are also obstacles that are in the way of some exporters who are active in the iraqi market and who, thank god, have been able to overcome these obstacles with the support of various governments. and in this

meeting and in this meeting, there are other obstacles , especially financial obstacles and sanctions against the islamic republic of iran in iran's trade, which you were with us in this conversation , mr. gudarzi qadri, let's be accurate in the statistics , please tell us a little bit of the latest statistics that exist between the trade of the two countries, how much it is and what goods it includes , most of it in the name of god. and i have respect to your excellency and good viewers, i would like to inform you that the trade relations between iran and iraq have been increasing since 2003, and it can be said that

it starts from the amount of 600 million dollars and currently in 2002 it is more than 12 billion dollars. we export. we served iraq with technical and engineering goods and services it should be said that during the past years since 1400 and 1401, we have witnessed this growth in a very visible way, and in the five months of this year , the total export of the islamic republic of iran to other countries was 4.500 billion from the amount of 21 billion 900 million dollars. million dollars is the share of iraq , which includes 21% of the goods that are mainly exported in 21 growth, and yes, 21 is included in the share of

exports, how much did it have in the same period as last year? and during the past few years , natural gas has been exported to iraq, which is somewhat sweet on average 2 billion dollars annually. there are iron and steel rods, there are ceramic tiles , there are all kinds of steel ingots, and depending on the season, for example , there are water coolers in the third quarter of this year. there is a product that is exported to iraq , among other countries, among other products that we should mention, there are plastic kitchen utensils

, the supplies for your service are related to steam turbines, which are exported to iraq, and iron tools, etc. from 4500 item line item there are more than 2520 fonts. our product group is exported to iraq and this figure is very impressive and it can be seen that we can see that this trend continues to increase during the past years on the opposite side of our imports and how much of our imports, unfortunately, can be said to the reason is that iraq is only an importer of products . it only exports crude oil , which comprises more than 95% of its exports. we

do not have such a good trade balance with iraq, despite the fact that it is very positive for us and it is considered one-sided . in fact, it can be said that it is a problem in the economy. there is a problem between the trade relations of the two countries and it is causing problems and this cannot continue . please be informed that the largest import we had from iraq was in 1400, which was 1.177 billion, which is a series of our demands from in return , we imported basic goods from iraq

, but on average it can be said that it is around 500 million dollars. your presence is aluminum waste , copper waste, which has many different uses let me tell you that there is corn, another item that is imported is mobile phones, which can be said to be imported through iraq, and also. this spilt is one of the items that were imported from iraq during this year and in previous years. mr. sanjabi, please tell me first of all your assessment of what is the current business model with iraq and how much you consider it desirable and how much. do you think that it is compatible with the capacities that exist in our country and that it is possible to use that neighborly opportunity in the name of allah, rahman raheem, you raised a good question . the truth of the matter, if i want to answer the question you have to look at it from two perspectives. one is the current situation

. well, the current situation is as mr. gooderzi said, one-fifth of our total exports to other parts of the world are only going to iraq, which means that one dollar out of every $5 in non-oil export income comes from iraq. from this point of view, the importance of good is seductive, but if we look at it from the point of view of ideals, the answer is definitely that this number is not satisfactory at all, that's why if you have done a search in the news, it must be with minimal perspectives. 20 billion dollars for the next 5 years. encountered in trade between iran and iraq in my opinion, this number is completely a number that is possible to happen, which means that we are now at the best in 50% of the potential capacity, in fact, trade between iran and iraq is possible, and

we have not actually used 50% of the potential capacity yet. well, the iraqis are not using this capacity either, because the realization is that , firstly, we should go towards a trade balance that is actually fairer and more bilateral, and secondly, we should go towards other areas that are actually commercial, because now the figures that mr. guderzi dear, most of the trade was goods. right now, how many millions of our passengers are going to iraq, the opposite number a lot of iraqi patients come to iran from tourism and the income from health tourism is not actually calculated in these, but we definitely must in the field of tourism, in the field of health tourism, in the field of issuing technical engineering services , in the field of issuing consulting services, in addition in the field of goods , let's make a change in the trade between iran and iraq. it's not bad for you and the good viewers of your program to know that a study we conducted

, iraqis import four-digit tariffs based on four-digit asic 126 codes. as mr. gudarzi said, 4500 pens, for example they are importing goods, they mean 8-digit codes because these codes actually work like this. he is actually allocating a figure , in other words, we have a quarter of the goods needed by iraq, and we export them. we have exports in iraq, and there, the number of figures told us that you are in the middle of your journey, you have gone 50% of the way, which means that right now you can actually use the potential capacity that it is possible to force it to reach a real capacity of 100% and to reach that number, in fact , 20 billion dollars in total. if i want to

briefly tell you about our business situation with the iraqis , there are many obstacles. both due to the iraqi government's regulations and the games that the westerners have to reduce our trade with the iraqis, sometimes because of some decisions that are inside, there is no right or wrong, but surely , some of these decisions will depend on the volume of our trade with iraq western pressure and sanctions issues and the presence of western countries in iraq, which makes our business as it should be, maybe the points you mention are not successful or not, the decisions that are sometimes made internally, in my opinion, the maximum is 75 this ratio belongs to him and at least 25 belongs to us, that is, no matter how much we want to reduce our own share , it will not be less than 25%, no matter how much we want to increase the effects you said, it will not be more than 75,

the meaning of my words. this is that we can take the first step to improve with a more correct decision inside let's advance the business process. if you saw just now , in the statistics that you shared , it was actually this. fortunately, we reached the limit of 46 billion dollars in exports in the five-month statistics. this number was 3.570 billion dollars last year, which means more than 930 million dollars. in fact , we had an increase in exports, which is promising, despite the fact that right now, every iraqi businessman who imports goods from iran imports at least 9. the reason is that, unfortunately, the iraqis do not allocate their central bank's credit to import goods from iran , the iraqi businessman has to go to the open market. the difference between the free market rate and the central bank's rate is actually about 9% more expensive now , of course, this number has been up to 20%, which means that the situation is good now. a few months ago, this difference

was about 20% of the base rate of the currency, which despite the fact that 20 % if it were finished, it would still show that our export goods have a competitive position in iraq , which is a very good sign , mr. gudarzi, what do you think, mr. sanjabi , they pointed out that the capacity for that now is 20 billion dollars. a lot about it it has been talked about the goal setting that has taken place and even the number there are those who say that in the long term, for example, we will reach 40 billion dollars, there are similar numbers . do you think that in order for this to happen, what are the necessary infrastructures from the government, now that you are the representative of the trade development organization and you are directly in contact? it must be done

. it is not difficult to reach the figure of 20 billion dollars in exports between iran and iraq. the program implemented by the trade development organization in this direction can be said to be from different angles. one of the issues we have it is that the problems related to the transportation of goods are for the purpose of commercial infrastructure , which was taken from your customs . and in this direction , very good steps have been taken. we had several trade committees with iraq in 2019. it was held, which had very good achievements, which made us witness the growth of trade. last year, the second

trade committee between iran and iraq was held. the issues that were brought up there were of great interest and caused many problems and issues to be solved. currently, one of the actions that went beyond the existing infrastructure issues that the trade development organization is doing is the issue of export incentives. another measure is the commercial centers. we currently have 6 commercial centers in iraq. one center is in baghdad , one is in sulaymaniyah, there is a specialized center for construction goods in sulaymaniyah, one is in basra, and one is in najaf. it can be said that somehow the private sector and we entered the game in this way, we were able

to solve some of the problems that exist between the two countries in some areas. another issue is participation in iraq 's international exhibitions. we have, the necessary permits are issued by the trade development organization and it has been very well received. another issue that needs to be presented to you is business boards. this year , more than 220 iraqi businessmen and businessmen were present in iran at the international expo. that among all countries it can be said that it was an indicator that very good contracts were signed, and these

trade delegations, which are business delegations, make businessmen work with each other and with interest, and this is another achievement, and it can be said that there are works that the trade development organization this applies to various issues, from export incentives to the issue of the guarantee fund, and we recently got involved, and fortunately, the guarantee fund has given agencies and commercial centers as well as the private sector to implement the works related to the guarantee of goods and the guarantee of technical and engineering services. that is another issue that the request is to increase the amount for iraq, which is 200 million dollars , so that

we can serve you. in the direction of export development, one main point that is important is that we can sign the trade community agreement with iraq, god willing, we had many negotiations. it has been written and , god willing, it will be signed soon, as soon as it is signed, it can be said that the problems between the two countries will be solved, mr. squirrel, in order to achieve the target of 20 billion dollars or more, the points that were mentioned , obviously, now you, as the representative of the private sector, are present in our program, you want to tell us what are the obstacles that are facing now, according to you, that share is 25 of the decision. internal factors that prevent you from reaching this number more in the field of sadara or

balance in the field of sadara. i am very grateful for the question you raised . i would like to allow you to answer a part of the headline and a part of it a bit more elaborately, of course, within the limits of our program , definitely because the number of 20 billion dollars let's get to 45. we need to do the urgent work . the first thing that needs to be done is the financial settlement of these third-party traders . fortunately, you are there . there are actually 3 solutions. there are also 3 solutions in the travel order. i am sorry. it has already been negotiated . we hope that, god willing, this trip will have good news in this field. a part of this is actually the pre-negotiations that have already started in this trip, which turned into a bilateral agreement something is going to happen. you see, we have 10

billion dollars of money every year. in a way, it can be said that we have to enter the country from iraq , there is no requirement, it must be done in dollars, we have developed solutions for the settlement of parties by using the capacities of offshore dinars and rials , using the capacities of the multilateral monetary agreement and using the capacities of ecu, or actually the union of asian central banks , is on the agenda, and since our trade with iraq is one-way, it prevents us from being able to start a business between the two countries, exactly because if we for example, our trade was 50-50 and a bilateral monetary agreement would solve our problem. no sanctions could be an obstacle in the way of us and the iraqis . the problem we have now is that our trade balance is one-sided, so the first issue is that we have to solve the second issue. it is, and during my trip, we asked the government men present in this trip in front of the meeting, for this conversation, 10% more expensive goods imported from iran for the

iraqi businessmen and the government. iraqi men should solve it in a way , because the sanctions refer to the dollar, the allocation of foreign currency outside of the dollar, which is a limitation for the central bank of iraq. it does not provide, one of our demands was that we want trade with iran through another channel other than the dollar, this is any common currency that is available on the side of this consumption, including dirhams, including yuan, and possibly rupees and any other currency. which is formed in the form of multilateral agreements. another issue we need to resolve. we must provide the possibility of the emergence of companies that export technical engineering services in iraq. there are obstacles in the issuance of guarantees due to these bank sanctions, in fact, the registration of iranian companies there in the company of iranian companies to purchase tender and company documents. in the tenders, which naturally due to the authority of the government officials, we expect a consolation, which happened in 2012-2013 and we

are the first in the history of exporting technical engineering services to iraq , to ​​have a 42 billion dollar export of framesi services, again. inshaallah , it will happen at the forefront of these medical trips, as there are grounds for it, iraq's needs are there , the iraqis' 3-year construction budget is more than 45 billion dollars, and iraq's internal capacities are not responsive to the needs of reconstruction. iranian companies definitely have the cheapest prices for many reasons they can play in the iraqi market, so their presence is definitely competitive if there are political and security obstacles. and in fact, the acting of western services should be removed until the iraqi government is there , we will definitely have a jump in the export of technical and engineering services, another issue that should be on the agenda of the two countries , as mr. gudarzi pointed out, we should have an agreement on the life of the business community. we can't go towards a preferential trade , because now our trade terrace is not 50-50, but at least we should go towards a mutual trade agreement, that is,

on tariffs. the ones we export to iraqis we should apply some discounts, just like saying that a part of our business will go to the clearing house and the product produced by a third party, in fact , we should give discounts to it, and the last thing that i think we should do is the same demand that we want from the iraqi statesmen , we want from the president of the country's economic authorities, in the category of contracting foreign exchange for export with iraq, contracting is the fixed basis of all our plans, and there must be a revision because the reality of what i said is that you can see that it is because of politics the ones that have been applied so far, the summary of the contract is that i have to actually sell my goods to the iraqi merchant at the open rate, calculate it and get the equivalent in any possible way from the exchange in any possible way, and then he must come up with this.