Iraj Masjedi made the remarks on Tue. on the sidelines of a meeting on reviewing political developments in Iraq and added, “outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has severely affected the international relations and naturally, this issue will affect the region significantly.”
He pointed to the amicable relations between Iran and Iraq and added, “the two countries of Iran and Iraq will always remain with each other, because, the two countries need bilateral cooperation.”
Masjedi put the current trade, economic and energy exchanges between Iran and Iraq at more than $13 billion.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the envoy pointed to the recent visit of Iranian Energy Minister Eng. Reza Ardakanian to Iraq and reiterated, “Iran’s electricity sales contract was inked for another two years, so that the two countries of Iran and Iraq certainly need each other.”
The new Iraqi government is determined to expand and develop its cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said, adding, “agreements have been inked between presidents of the two countries and these agreements should be implemented, so that we are determined to strengthen bilateral ties.”
In response to a question on effect of strengthening relations between Iran and Iraq in regional security, he said, “the security of the two countries have intertwined with each other. That is to say that if there is security in Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran is also safe and secure. For this reason, we have defined very good security protocols with Iraq and this procedure will continue.”
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