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More than three million Iranians have registered to visit the holy cities of Iraq during the Arbaeen season, which marks the 40th day after the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shiite Imam, a senior official said on Saturday.

Amir Moradi, the executive manager of a task force charged with handling the Arbaeen pilgrimage, said by 8:30 on Saturday morning, the number of people who have registered at the Samah website, has surpassed three million.

The Samah website has been launched by Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization to facilitate sending pilgrims to Iraq’s holy sites during the Arbaeen season.

Moradi pointed to the Iranian provinces that account for the largest number of people registered to go on the pilgrimage to Iraq, and said Tehran, with 500,118 names registered, is on the top of the list.

This year, the four borders of Khosravi, Mehran, Chazzabeh, and Shalamcheh are open to the Arbaeen pilgrims.

Arbaeen, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, comes 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shiite Imam.

Each year, a huge crowd of Shiites flock to the Iraqi city of Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites.

In August, Iran and Iraq signed an agreement in Tehran to reopen the Khosravi border crossing and remove visa restrictions for Iranian Arbaeen pilgrims.

Iran and Iraq also agreed to raise the level of services and facilities for the pilgrims and enhance border security during the Arbaeen season, which will culminate in a large gathering in Karbala on October 19.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

High-ranking officials from Iran, Syria, and Iraq have agreed to create “a multimodal transport corridor” a part of efforts to boost trade relations between the three Muslim nations.

“The three friendly and brotherly countries of Iran, Iraq, and Syria have good and growing business relations,” Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Shahram Adamnejad told the Tasnim News Agency.

“Given the actual and potential capacities created by the bilateral agreements between the three countries as well as the prospect of increasing these exchanges in the near future, we will witness a new chapter of trade prosperity in the territories of the three countries,” he added.

“Accordingly, the three countries have agreed to establish a multimodal transport corridor on the route from Iran to Iraq and Syria, and vice versa,” the deputy minister went on to say.

Speaking at a trilateral meeting between the state-owned Iraqi Republic Railways (IRR) and its Iranian and Syrian counterparts, the IRR Managing Director Talib Jawad Kazim praised Iran’s achievements in the railroad industry and said the sanctions have made Iran archive great successes.

He further pointed to the railroad project connecting Iran’s Shalamcheh to Iraq’s Basra and said his country is willing to speed up the project so that the two countries’ rail networks are connected to each other and then connected to Syria.

During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Iraq in March, the two countries signed five deals to promote cooperation in various fields.

The documents entail cooperation between Iran and Iraq concerning the Basra-Shalamcheh railroad project, visa facilitation for investors, cooperation in the health sector, and agreements between the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran and Ministry of Trade of Iraq, and another one in the field of oil between the petroleum ministries of the two countries.

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani has said that Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to reach the target of raising the value of annual trade exchange to $20 billion within two years.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

The Iranian president's chief of staff said Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to establish five joint industrial parks, including one in Iran’s border province of Kurdistan.

Speaking at a meeting on economic development of Kurdistan in the city of Sanandaj on Saturday, Mahmoud Vaezi said Iran and Iraq have devised plans to set up five joint industrial parks.

One of them is scheduled to be built in the province of Kurdistan, he added.

Iran is the top exporter of goods to Iraq, Vaezi said, noting that Iraq and its Kurdistan Region provide a perfect opportunity for Iran to boost exports and deal with the cruel US sanctions.

During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Iraq in March, the two countries signed five deals to promote cooperation in various fields.

The documents entail cooperation between Iran and Iraq concerning the Basra-Shalamcheh railroad project, visa facilitation for investors, cooperation in the health sector, and agreements between the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran and Ministry of Trade of Iraq, and another one in the field of oil between the petroleum ministries of the two countries.

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani has said that Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to reach the target of raising the value of annual trade exchange to $20 billion within two years.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Rahmani said Tehran and Baghdad have agreed to reach the target of raising the value of annual trade exchange to $20 billion within the next two years.

Speaking at a TV program on Wednesday, Rahmani stressed the need to exploit the potential of Iran and Iraq for industrial and trade cooperation.

He added that the $20-billion annual trade target that the two neighbors have set is expected to be met in the not-so-distant future.

Rahmani, who was part of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s entourage during a landmark visit to Iraq earlier this week, said the two governments have agreed to get the most out of economic opportunities by 2021.

During the presidential visit to Iraq, the two countries’ official signed five deals to promote cooperation in various fields.

The documents entail cooperation between Iran and Iraq concerning the Basra-Shalamcheh railroad project, visa facilitation for investors, cooperation in the health sector, and agreements between the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran and Ministry of Trade of Iraq, and another one in the field of oil between the petroleum ministries of the two countries.

In February, governors of the central banks of Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to develop a payment mechanism aimed at facilitating banking ties between the two neighboring countries.

A few days ago, secretary of Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce said the obstacles to banking interaction between the two neighbors have been settled and the bilateral trade exchange is fairly normal.

He said a large number of technical and engineering projects worth 7 to 8 billion dollars which Iranian private sector companies were carrying out in Iraq have remained unfinished since the rise of the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in 2014.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

Iran and Iraq signed five deals to promote cooperation in various fields on the first day of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to Baghdad.

In a meeting co-chaired by Rouhani and Prime Minister of Iraq Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad on Monday evening, top officials from the two countries signed five memoranda of understanding.

The documents entail cooperation between Iran and Iraq concerning the Basra-Shalamcheh railroad project, visa facilitation for investors, cooperation in the health sector, and agreements between the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade of Iran and Ministry of Trade of Iraq, and another one in the field of oil between the petroleum ministries of the two countries.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on Monday at the official invitation of the Iraqi government. It is Rouhani’s first official visit to Iraq during his tenure.

(Source: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

By John Lee.

Iraq's state-run Iraqi Republic Railways (IRR) announced on Tuesday that it plans to link its rail network to that of neighbouring Iran.

IRR Information Director Abdul Sattar Mohsen told Anadolu Agency that Iraqi and Iranian officials had already held several meetings to discuss the project.

He added that several international companies had already expressed an interest in investing in the scheme, but said the IRR is still looking for potential investors.

The 32-kilometer extension would link Iran’s Al-Shalamcheh border terminal to Basra, allowing passengers to easily pass between the two countries, especially during Shia pilgrimage seasons.

(Source: Anadolu Agency)

(Pictured Credit: Tasnim, under Creative Commons licence)

By John Lee.

Iran has issued a tender to build a second pipeline to carry natural gas to Iraq.

Trade Arabia reports that the $1.5-billion project will be granted on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, and all costs will be recovered through revenues from gas exports to Iraq.

A pipeline will be built from the Iranian city of Dezful to the border city of Shalamcheh and is estimated to take three years.

(Source: Trade Arabia)

(Map image via Shutterstock)

By John Lee.

Iraq has agreed to increase cement imports from Iran.

Jahanbakhsh Sanjabi Shirazi, the head of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, told Fars News Agency:

"As of September 1, each (Iranian) company can export 15,000t of cement into the neighbouring country from Shalamcheh, Chazzabeh and Mehran border terminals."

He noted that the new regulations have been adopted by Iraq's Trade Ministry.

(Source: Cemnet)

(Picture: Kufa Cement Factory)

By John Lee.

Global Cement reports that Iraq has banned imports of Iranian white cement from the Iranian border towns of Shalamcheh and Chazabeh.

Sadeq Sava'edi, the deputy head of Khuzestan's Cement Exporters Union, told the ISNA news agency that Iraq is still importing grey cement and other construction materials, adding that Iran exports 8000 t/day of construction materials from the Chazabeh border area and 6000 t/day from Shalamcheh to Iraq.

Iraq banned imports of cement of Iran completely in June 2013 but trade resumed shortly afterwards.

(Source: Global Cement)

(Picture: Kirkuk Cement Factory)