Nasrullah Rashnoudi, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Erbil, Iraq, along with a delegation on Tuesday during a visit to Ranya met with Deputy Governor of Raprin administration Bakr Baez, Governor and Jawhar Agha, Director General of Qalat -Dizeh Customs.

Iran Press/Middle East: During the meeting, the deputy director of the Raprin administration called for Iran's support for the formalization of the "Kileh" crossing in Sardasht, stating the need to further develop economic relations.

The Iranian Consul General also called for paying attention to the people of Sardasht (Iran), Qalat Dizeh and Ranya in Iraq, who suffered heavy damages during the imposed war and still suffered from chemical weapons caused by the brutal attacks of the Ba'athist dictator.

Emphasizing the need to increase trade with the Kileh market, Rashnoudi called on the parties to work together to build more capacity and establish the necessary units to improve and facilitate the implementation of existing customs formalities and procedures.

Referring to the Islamic Republic of Iran's decision to formalize the Kileh market, he said that obtaining the consent of the Iraqi central government was a prerequisite for achieving this goal and expressed hope to obtain Baghdad's contest via necessary legal and diplomatic channels.

It should be noted that the Iraqi Kurdistan region is one of Iran's major trading partners, with the volume of trade (transactions) between the two sides reaching an impressive  $4 billion a year.

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