Iran Press/ Middle East: Iraq's General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers issued a statement saying that "Iraj Masjidi" in a meeting with "Hamid Naeem Al-Ghazi" the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers said that the involved agencies in Iran have done all preparations for the construction of the Iran-Iraq railway connection project.
It should be noted that the Iraqi government delegation agreed on April 27th to allow for the railways' connection with the Islamic Republic of Iran via the Basra-Shalamcheh railway in the south of the country.
The Islamic Republic of Iran completed the 17-kilometer project to connect the Khorramshahr railway to the Shalamcheh border in 2011, but since then a 32-kilometer section of the Shalamcheh-Basra border to connect the Iranian railway to the Iraqi national railway network has been awaiting executive operations on behalf of the government of Baghdad.
With the completion of the Shalamcheh-Basra border railway project, pilgrims from the two countries will be able to visit the holy shrines through the railway fleet, while at the same time, the project will expand trade exchanges and transit transport between the two sides.
According to a statement issued today by the Iraqi government secretariat, Iraj Masjedi also called for the Iraqi government to agree to send a number of Iranian pilgrims to Iraq to attend this year's Arbaeen mourning ceremony of Imam Hussein (AS).
The ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the secretary of the Iraqi government delegation also discussed a number of joint cases between the two countries.
The statement added that the two sides stressed the importance of developing partnerships and expanding and diversifying areas of cooperation between the two countries in order to strengthen strong relations within the framework of meeting the expectations of the forthcoming stage and the interests of the two nations.
Hamid Al-Ghazi, in his turn, stressed the need to resolve the water issue between the relevant agencies of the two countries and reach a common understanding.
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