Uzbekistan and Iraq are moving into a new stage of commercial and economic cooperation after a round of important business meetings in Baghdad and Anbar.
Davron Vakhabov, the Chairman of Uzbekistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is currently visiting Iraq. With support from Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Ayubkhan Yunusov, he met with several key Iraqi officials, including Haider Makiyya, the head of the National Investment Commission, Amer Khalaf Al-Alawi, the President of the Anbar Chamber of Commerce, and Maan Sabit Arif, a consultant to the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce.
Their talks focused on boosting trade between the two countries, creating joint projects, and improving logistics cooperation. Both sides also agreed to hold a business forum and B2B meetings in Tashkent this December to help businesses connect directly and sign new deals.
According to a statement from Uzbekistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iraq is a major and promising market. With a population of about 46 million and annual imports reaching around 53 billion dollars, Iraq has strong demand for many types of goods. The country imports roughly 3 billion dollars in textiles, carpets, and leather goods, 4 billion dollars in food and construction materials, and another 3 billion dollars in electrical products. Iraq’s furniture market is worth about 1.2 billion dollars, and its pharmaceutical imports are close to 2 billion dollars each year.
The Iraqi side emphasized that it is very interested in Uzbek goods and ready to push the partnership between the two countries’ business sectors to a higher level.
