BAGHDAD: Romanian and Iraqi companies might associate in a non governmental organization like a bilateral chamber of trade, in order to promote commercial relations and economic cooperation between the two countries, according to an announcement made by Hussain Sinjari, the ambassador of Iraq at a meeting he had with Sorin Dimitriu, the president of Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB). According to CCIB, the two officials mentioned the existence of three cooperation accords concluded in 2012 with similar Iraqi institutions from Baghdad, Diwanijya and Najaf.
CCIB president Sorin Dumitrescu advanced the idea of organizing the “Day of business opportunities” devoted to Iraq, or the “Days of Iraqi products in Bucharest,” events that “may represent concrete and efficient steps to develop Romanian-Iraqi economic and commercial relations.” In his turn, ambassador Sinjari appreciated the suggestions made by Bucharest Chamber and mentioned the interest in promoting commercial exchanges and economic cooperation and other domains like education, science and research.
According to official data, bilateral Romanian-Iraqi commercial exchanges exceeded in the last 5 years, 100 million dollars, except for years 2011 and 2014, with export peaks in 2013 of 87.4 million dollars and of import in 2015 of 86.9 million dollars. In the first 7 months of the year, compared to the situation recorded in the same period of 2015, the total volume of bilateral commercial exchanges increased 2.6 times, export 1.8 times and import 3.1 times.