Abdul Amir Rabihawi said in a meeting with the Iran-Iraq joint chamber and traders: Trade with Iraq is traditional and the exchange of money is done through exchange offices or in the form of transfer silver.
Therefore, Iraq still traditionally works in the financial sector.
Iran's trade adviser in Iraq added: We are also faced with the multiplicity of decision-making centers in Iran and Iraq.
In Iran, we have an Iraqi office in most ministries, each making its own decisions.
Therefore, unfortunately, there is no centralization of decision-making in Iran and it acts like an island.
This problem sometimes leads to contradictory decisions.
He continued: These problems resulted in the transfer of the summit of economic cooperation between the two countries to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and in Iran between the 3 ministries of Security, Energy and Economy, and finally the property was transferred. been placed.
Rabihawi said: All the benefits bring us to the point that we have to work with Iraq because no matter how many governments change, we have a common border and linguistic, cultural, etc. affinities. with Iraq.
Iraq is a country that has been at war since 1980 and has been involved in internal and external wars until now, and these wars have caused the need for reconstruction in the provinces of this country.
He added: For example, if you focus only on the Mosul-centric Nineveh province, you will face 5 million consumers.
My suggestion is to agree to send a trade delegation to this province.
Iran's trade adviser in Iraq said: In Iraq, they say that Mosul dried fruits are famous dried fruits, while these dried fruits are an Iranian product and after being processed, they are sent to all of Iraq.
This is a concrete example of the need to be present in the market of 5 million inhabitants of the province of Nineveh.
You can even use the fertile agricultural lands of this province.
He added: Due to the political and military cooperation during the Daesh era, this country is the best country to visit, invest and export goods.
It can also be used as a re-export.
Using the transit advantage of Iraq, the goods can be exported to different countries, even African ones.
Rabihawi said, "Without a presence in Iraq, we cannot meet the target of $20 billion in exports to that country."
He said: "In 2022, we could export over $1 billion in technical and engineering services to Iraq, but that hasn't been recorded anywhere."
Iran's trade adviser in Iraq said: Iraqi residential projects are more profitable than oil projects and it is suggested to enter this sector.
The profit is 3 years and it is possible to send labor and it is possible to increase non-oil exports.
He said that with the arrival of Sudani - the Prime Minister - there has been a change in the Iraqi economy, and said: Iraq's three-year budget creates many advantages for being in this country.
On the other hand, an economic growth of 6.8% is envisaged for this country.
Rabihawi said: Iraq can connect the Persian Gulf to Europe in the future, so that we can reach Africa and Europe from Iraq.
Iran's trade adviser to Iraq further said: The US Treasury pressured the Central Bank of Iraq to use your currency for other purposes, such as for sanctioned countries or money laundering. .
He said: The Central Bank of Iraq distributes $250 million daily among its banks.
The Ministry of Economy sells 1,300 dinars to the central bank for every dollar, and the central bank sells 1,310 dinars to banks and 1,320 dinars to customers.
Rabihawi said: Due to pressure from the US Treasury, therefore, Iraq cannot use this official currency to interact with Iran, so it is forced to use the free currency, which has a 10% difference from against the official currency, which is detrimental to Iranian businessmen.
He added: On the other hand, Iraq has proposed that all our financial interactions in Iraq be in dinars, even Turkish stores in this country buy and sell in dinars.
In fact, the dollar should be removed from the official scene inside Iraq.
This official further stated: Based on this, our proposal to the Central Bank of Iran was that our traders should trade with dinars instead of dollars.
He added: Secondly, the Iranian money, which is stuck in the TBA Bank of Iraq under the name of gas and electricity claims, is used for non-sanctioned goods, which include 7 items of non-sanctioned goods and industrial equipment, medicines and food.
Rabihawi added: Therefore, Iranian businessmen must admit to Iraqis that Iran's export goods to Iraq are unauthorized goods.
Iran's trade adviser in Iraq added: The third point is that we are exporting 4,500 goods to Iraq, which will cover about 10% of Iraq's needs.
We have to give Iraq a push to understand that the issue of price is very important for us in the trade interaction with Iraq, so that they return the 10% difference - the price official and free money - to us.
Rabihawi also said: Health tourism is well established in Iraq, but currently the work is in the hands of brokers.
There was a dispute between the Ministry of Health and Tourism regarding health tourism, and I don't know if it has been resolved or not.
He added: "In any case, health tourism is currently in the hands of brokers and this problem must be solved so that Iranian companies can start working on their own."
Iran's trade adviser to Iraq said regarding single head transport: We have negotiated many times with Iraq regarding single head transport, but they do not believe that Iran will use their system transport to be present in Iraq.
The Iraqi transport fleet has problems and is not responsible for transferring goods from official borders, but it still does not allow entry of non-Syrian trucks.
Rabihawi said: In my opinion, there is a transport problem and they will not allow this to happen.
Moreover, Iraq wants to transfer all commercial terminals to the Iranian side, such as Mehran and Chadabah, in which case the transport will no longer make sense and all transshipment of goods will be done in Iraq.
He added: Of course, 5 industrial cities are supposed to be established on the borders of Iran and Iraq, which will be an opportunity for Iranian trucks to enter these cities.
This project can be an opportunity to send Iranian trucks to other cities   in the future.