After the landmark visit of new Iraqi President Barham Salih to neighboring Turkey, Turkey expects to double its trade volume with Iraq to 20 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.
Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz told reporters in Baghdad on Friday that “our goal in the trade volume between the two countries is 20 billion dollars as the first stage if some obstacles are removed.”
Yildiz said the biggest obstacle is the double taxes collected on the goods coming from Turkey to Iraq via Kurdistan region.
Thousands of trucks carrying goods from Turkey to Iraq have to go through the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, imposing double taxes on the trucks as they have to pay tariff on the border crossing points between Turkey and Kurdistan region and then checkpoints between Kurdistan and Iraq.
