Iraq and Iran are planning to establish a joint freezone at the countries’ shared border by March 2024, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency quotes Iran’s Secretary of Supreme Council of Trade-Industrial and Special Economic Zones Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki as saying. Feasibility studies for the freezone are currently underway, Abdolmaleki said.

What we know: The zone is set to be located in Iran’s western province of Ilam, in the area of the Mehran border crossing.Iraq will use the zone to export products to other countries through Iran’s access to the Indian Ocean, Tasnim reports.

Background: The establishment of a freezone comes following a meeting between Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Iraqi Labor Minister Ahmed Al Asadi, in which they discussed the need to enhance economic cooperation by establishing joint factories and a joint freezone, Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency writes.

Iraq + Iran have been exploring different avenues of cooperation to deepen their trade ties: The countries have agreed to cooperate on production lines to export meds and pharma products to countries in the MENA region. They also inked an agreement back in May to complete the 32 km Shalamcheh-Basra railway, which will connect Iran’s Shalamchech to Basra. The countries are also looking into constructing a new rail link from the Khosravi border crossing in Iran to Iraq’s Karbala.

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