Speaking on Saturdays, Reza Noshadi told the Iran-Iraq trade development conference about the message of the Iraqi premier to Iran on the occasion of the victory of the latter’s national football team over Wales in the ongoing Qatar World Cup: “We consider this message as an important foundation for the expansion of trade between the two neighboring countries.”

He added: “In the relations between the neighboring countries, in addition to commercial relations, relying on cultural and emotional ties has always been a way forward, and the more alignment of the two countries of Iran and Iraq with each other, the more the plans of the greedy to create restrictions on these historically rooted connections will be overturned.”

The IGEDC CEO stated that Iran owns the largest gas network in the world and gas consumption in Iran is 65% of the European Union. “The huge investment of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) in the development of the sixth nationwide gas pipeline from Asaluyeh to the export bases in Naftshahr and Shalamcheh proved that Iran is determined to expand its relations with its neighbor, Iraq. Despite this, we witnessed that most of the Iranian companies were stopped behind the gates of Iraq and could not use their talent and strength in the industrial development of the neighboring country as it should be.”

Noushadi described the presence of the current capable Iranian companies in Iraq's oil and gas industry as insufficient, and stated: “As we have had good success in the field of building power plants and hospitals in Iraq, it is expected that similar developments in the field of oil and gas will also be realized.”

While emphasizing Iran's declaration of voluntary readiness to implement oil and gas projects in Iraq, he demanded that the Iraqi authorities provide the means to realize this, and said: “The oil industry alone can double the current volume of Iran-Iraq trade.”