Iran is the third trade partner of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after Turkey and China, according a report by Erbil-based Rudaw news network. Iranian products constitute 69% of the consumer goods in Sulaymaniyah province, while 50% of consumer goods in Erbil province come from Iran and the 50% remaining are Turkeish-made. But 65% of the consumer goods in Dohuk province are imported from Turkey.
Rudaw has further reported that an American delegation visited Kurdistan last week in order to prepare the ground for implementing the anti-Iran sanctions.
According to the president of Kurdistan Investors Union Yassin Mahmoud Rashid, the American delegation had urged the Kurdish officials to develop agricultural sector in order to reduce the Iraqi Kurdistan's reliance on Iranian goods.
According to Rudaw, the bilateral trade between Iran and the Kurdistan region exceeded $7billion in 2015, noting that Iran has built some manufacturing plants along the shared border with the KRG in Halabja and Sulaymaniyah provinces.
KI/RUDAW