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Iraq eyes opening new border crossings with Turkey
ARBIL, Iraq - Iraq hopes to open two new border crossings with Turkey to boost bilateral trade to $20 billion a year, despite renewed fighting between Turkish forces and Turkish Kurd rebels along the frontier, officials said. There is only one border crossing point now.Iraq is looking to open two new border crossings with Turkey and to set up an industrial and commercial area inside Iraqi land on the border with Turkey, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Barham Salih, said on Tuesday during a visit by the Turkish trade minister. Salih said the free trade zone will be set up in Iraqs northern city of Zakho, 440 km (275 miles) north of Baghdad, but approval from the Iraqi central government was still needed. Bilateral trade could reach $7 billion by the end of 2010, up from $6 billion last year, Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan said during the visit to Arbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Posted by: Steve White 2010-07-01 |
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