Iraq, Kuwait sign minutes of joint meet to boost commercial co-op
Two-day gathering concludes
BAGHDAD, Feb 23, (KUNA): The Iraqi and Kuwaiti Ministries of Commerce signed the minutes of a joint meeting to bolster commercial cooperation.
The signing came at the conclusion of a twoday gathering chaired by Kuwaiti Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan and Iraqi Commerce Minister Mohammad Al-A’ni.
According to an Iraqi ministerial statement, Iraq welcomed a proposal to establish a free trade zone with the State of Kuwait near the Safwan-Al-Abdeli border crossing to facilitate, boost, and develop joint commercial exchange.
The two sides agreed on forming a specialized technical committee no further than March 31st to look into the matter, said the statement, adding that there was a suggestion to renovate the border crossing as part of the process.
It added that Iraq and Kuwait agreed on the concept of providing business visas for Iraqi personnel through the cooperation between concerned Iraqi authorities and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) with the result of the process being the establishment of a whitelist of Iraqi businessmen updated periodically.
A similar process will be done to Kuwaiti business personnel, indicated the statement, adding that procedures should be agreed upon prior to March 31st.
Benefits
The ministerial statement went on to say that the two sides touched on the idea of creating a railway network, a matter referred to specialized authorities to look into the actual applications and benefits of such venture.
Kuwait and Iraqi stressed the importance of speeding up efforts for developing commercial cooperation, calling for a joint committee meeting as soon as it is permissible.
The statement indicated that an economic committee – headed by the ministers in both countries – was established during the course of the concluded-meeting.
The minutes of the meeting also touched on the issue of protecting mutual investments in light of the December 2013 agreement in this regard, the statement added.
An agreement was reached to following up on the results and recom-
mendations, which came out of the Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI), said the ministerial statement, indicating that both countries agreed to exchange data on mu-
tual exports and imports to further develop commercial exchange.
The meeting also came up with a joint customs committee that will look into facilitating movements of goods between the two
countries.
Iraq vowed to look into a technical document on exchanging digital customs data, while the Kuwaiti side offered to submit a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning joint ad-
ministrative cooperation.
Following the meeting, Kuwait’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan left the country after concluding his twoday visit where he met with officials and businessmen.