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Iraqi President Barham Salih, right, on his first official visit to Iran, calls for "a new order in the region" (Reuters)
Iran and Iraq could raise their annual bilateral trade to $ 12 billion, up from $ 12 billion today, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, despite concerns over the economic impact of the renewal of US sanctions.
Rouhani's remarks, made after Saturday's meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih, came about two weeks after Washington restored sanctions on the Iranian oil sector as well as its banking and transport sectors.
In comments broadcast live on Iranian television, Mr. Rouhani said: "Thanks to bilateral efforts, we can increase this figure [for bilateral trade] to $ 20 billion in the near future.
"We discussed the trade of electricity, gas, petroleum products and their activities … in the field of oil exploration and extraction."
Iraqi officials told the Reuters news agency last week that Iraq had agreed to sell food in exchange for supplying Iranian gas and energy.
However, Iranian trade officials denied that any "food for gas" program could be put in place as Iran was a net exporter of food to Iraq.
"The opposite is correct, since Iran supplies food products to Iraq … We have exported more than $ 6 billion to Iraq in the last seven months and we could import goods of an amount equivalent to that of food products, "said Yahya Al-e Eshaq," head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, was quoted by the ILNA news agency.
A spokesman for an Iranian exporters association of gas and petrochemicals said that Iraq wanted to pay gas imports into its currency, in dinar, the agency reported ISNA semi-official press.
Baghdad is seeking US approval to import Iranian gas for its power plants.
Iraqi officials say that they need more time to find an alternative source than a 45-day waiver granted by Washington.
"We will not forget your support"
Salih, who made his first official visit to Iran, called for "a new order in the region".
"The time has come for a new order in the region that meets the interests of all countries," said Salih at a press conference in Tehran, according to a translation provided by the Iranian broadcaster.
"We believe that Iran has an important role to play in this new order.
"It will be important to create free trade zones at the common border and connect the railways of both countries.
"We will not forget your support for the Iraqi people in the fight against [Iraqi president] Saddam [Hussein]. We do not forget either the position of Iran in the recent fight against terrorism ".
Iran has considerable influence in Iraq, its smaller neighbor, where its Revolutionary Guards played a key role in training and arming mainly Shiite militias that helped defeat the state's fighters. Islamic.
Officials from the Iraqi central bank said in August that their country's economy was closely linked to Iran.
Iraq imports from Iran a wide range of products, including food products, agricultural products, household appliances, air conditioners and car parts.
The commodity component of Iran's imports into Iraq amounted to about $ 6 billion for the 12-month period ending March 2018, representing about 15 per cent of Iraq's total imports in 2017.
Energy contracts also contribute to the total volume of bilateral trade.
Sugar Strike
At the same time, workers of the oldest Iranian sugar cane company went on strike on Saturday to demand the nationalization of the plant in trouble, the semi-official news agency ILNA said.
ILNA published a photo of a rally of workers from the Haft Tapeh Company in Shush, southwestern Iran, showing women marching with their children, one carrying a sign saying "We we are hungry. "
Haft Tapeh employs approximately 4,000 people and was established in 1962, reported the AFP news agency.
Workers have staged numerous protests against unpaid wages and pensions since the privatization of the company in February 2016. Protests have increased in recent weeks.
"We call this class of hard-working people back to work before the products are wasted," said Yadollah Mehrali-Zadeh, deputy governor of Khuzestan province, where the company is based.
"The government is trying to pay two to three months of their deferred payments next week," he added, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Iran has witnessed numerous strikes and protests in recent months against unpaid conditions and wages in various sectors, including steel, education, mining and transportation.
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