Iran, Iraq increase efforts to link railways

Iranian Minister of Road and Urbanization Ali Nikzad announced on Wednesday that Tehran and Baghdad are due to discuss and agree on linking the two countries' railways at Khosravi and Shalamcheh borders in Western and Southwestern Iran. "Iran is interested in reaching Iraq's borders through railway and vice versa," Nikzad said in a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran today. Stressing the importance of linking the two neighboring countries through railways, Nikzad said that he and his Iraqi counterpart are due to sign agreements on linking the Iraqi and Iranian railways through the Shalamcheh and Khosravi border lines. He also expressed the hope that obstacles to the two countries' cooperation in road, railway, air and sea transportation will be removed after the Iranian and Iraqi delegations' meeting in Tehran. Iran and Iraq have enjoyed growing ties ever since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 2003. Both sides are working on a series of plans to take wide strides in expanding their ties. Early in July, Iran and Iraq agreed to boost the value of their trade exchanges to $20bln in the near future.