Baghdad Iraq and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in the construction of the Basra-Shalamjah railway.

A statement by the Ministry of Transport stated that the Minister of Transport, Captain Nasser Hussein Bandar Al-Shibli, met today, Sunday, at the guest house, with his Iranian counterpart, Rostam Qasemi, and the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, to discuss bilateral cooperation in the field of transport between the two countries.

The statement added that the meeting also dealt with the most important and prominent common issues between the two countries in the various fields of air and land transport, including direct flights between the two neighbors.

For his part, Iranian Transport Minister Rostam Qasemi said in a press statement: “We signed a memorandum of understanding today with the Iraqi Minister of Transport, Nasser Al-Shibli, to start the construction of the railway between the Iran city of Shalamjah and Basra in Iraq, after a long wait.”

He stressed that “the importance of this agreement lies in the fact that we had held a series of discussions with the Iraqi side over a period of twenty years to implement this project, but we did not reach the required solution during this period.”

He indicated, “Our agreement today carries a specific and clear timetable, and obliges the Iranian and Iraqi sides to start implementing this line within a maximum of 30 days.”/

Source: National Iraqi News Agency