Rouhani’s visit to Iraq: outcomes

Despite US’s attempts to separate Iran and Iraq, the relation between these two countries go beyond political dimension as their nations have already developed strong ties.

Iranian President made a visit to Iraq on March 11th and visited almost every political and non-political figures there. The trip was a phenomenal success as many MoUs were signed between the two countries and significant issues were discussed and settled down.

Iran has had 12 billion dollars trades with Iraq this Iranian year and in this meeting the two countries were determined to increase it to 20 billion dollars next year. This is at a time though the US government has warned Iraq to sever economic ties with Iran.

Although Iran and Iraq have had a rocky past, but Rouhani’s visit to Iraq on March 11th indicated that the two countries are friends for ever. After the collapse of Saddam, Iraq and Iran developed a stable, extensive relation that includes both officials and nations. This indicates that Saddam’s imposed war on Iran was not the inner will of the Iraqi nation; it was the inner will of the Baath regime. Otherwise, that war which is famed for being the second longest war of the twentieth century could have left a gap between the two countries that cannot be filled easily.

Given the current situation of Iraq and the vast destruction that it has suffered during the two wars, investment is their high priority; in almost all areas from energy to constructions and infrastructure. It has to make at least 100 billion dollars of investment annually. We can build them power plants, roads, highways and everything a city needs to be called a city. But at the moment technical and engineering services, banking, insurance, health, and other software services and IT systems are the best areas of investment. And although in the Iraqi market we have many rivals, none of them have the advantages of Iran.

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