Türkiye and Iraq on Tuesday reiterated their willingness to boost their bilateral trade and investments during what marked the latest high-level contact over the past month aimed at improving ties between the two neighboring countries.
A newly announced multibillion-dollar regional transportation project, as well as the resumption of Iraqi Kurdish oil exports through Türkiye’s Mediterranean Ceyhan port, have also been high on the agenda during visits of top Turkish officials.
Last to arrive in Baghdad, Ömer Bolat, Türkiye’s trade minister, met Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, Deputy Prime Minister and Planning Minister Muhammed Ali Temim, as well as his counterpart Atheer Daoud Al-Ghurairy.
The sides agreed to improve economic and commercial relations, strengthen investments and remove related obstacles.
Rashid said Baghdad wants to see Turkish companies that play an important role in the reconstruction and revitalization of Iraq get involved in the country’s new projects, Bolat wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The president also 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 both stressed their government’s willingness to increase their target for bilateral trade volume, 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, while imports surged 24% to $10.4 billion, according to official data.
Accompanied by a large business people delegation, Bolat highlighted what he said was a record trade volume and added that Turkish contractors were 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 noted.
Al-Ghurairy echoed Bolat’s view, saying that Turkish builders were the most numerous in Iraq compared to other country’s companies. He noted that the firms should also strongly engage in industry, service and other fields in Iraq.
He also 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 noted.
In his talks with Al Sudani, Bolat stressed the prime minister’s determination to encourage efforts to ease practices and processes related to trade visas, banking, customs, trade and investments.
Multibillion-dollar project
The sides also weighed on the $17 billion Development Road project that aims to facilitate the flow of goods from Asia to Europe and is designed to transform the country’s economy after decades of war and crisis.
Announced by Al Sudani in late May, the project will facilitate the movement of goods from the Gulf to Europe through the Grand Faw Port in Basra, in oil-rich southern Iraq, which would be connected to Türkiye, then to Europe, through a network of railways and highways.
Bolat said the Turkish government earnestly supported the project.
"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," said Bolat.
Nasir al-Esedi, Al Sudani’s advisor for transportation, said Monday that Iraq intends to sign deals on the project with Türkiye soon.
The planned project will involve the construction of about 1,200 kilometers (about 745 miles) of railways and highways, turning the country into a transit hub by shortening travel time between Asia and Europe in a bid to rival the Suez Canal.
Al Sudani praised the role of Turkish companies in Iraq’s infrastructure works, noting that they also have the potential to develop the Development Road project, a statement by his office said.
"We are pleased with the serious interaction shown by Türkiye in the Development Road Project," he noted.
"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 attention to the importance of mutual visits and stressed that this would strengthen the relations of the two countries in various fields.
As part of expanded contacts, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan flew to Iraq last week.
Their contacts, among others, mainly weighed on the energy and economic and security relations.
Bayraktar said Monday that Türkiye aims to expedite the revival and make the pipeline from Iraq’s Kurdistan region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan operational as soon as possible.
Türkiye halted Iraq’s 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil exports through 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 said were unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
On the other hand, Ankara said the ICC had recognized most of Türkiye’s demands. Its Energy Ministry said the chamber ordered Iraq to compensate Türkiye for several violations concerning the case.
Given the supply constraints in the international oil market, markets are closely monitoring the developments around the pipeline’s reactivation.
Representatives from Iraq’s Oil Ministry have indicated that additional negotiations with Ankara might be necessary before the pipeline can be fully operational once again.
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg News report on Friday suggested Türkiye was seeking a compromise over competing demands from Iraq and the KRG over revenue-sharing from oil exports.
The sides have meanwhile agreed to finalize pipeline maintenance before resuming oil flow.
Bayraktar on Monday said maintenance operations were almost complete.
"We are carrying out these activities in utmost coordination," he told the public broadcaster TRT Haber. "Our goal is to put the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline into operation as soon as possible."