Trade: We are working to unify customs policy in all regions of Iraq

The spokesman for the Ministry of Trade, Mohammed Hanoun, confirmed that his ministry is working to unify customs policy in all Iraqi regions.

Mohammed Hanoun said in a statement reported by the "Rudaw" media network, and reviewed by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "the Iraqi government, within the framework of its efforts to unify customs policy in various Iraqi regions, is now working to develop this policy in order to achieve the desired benefit from customs policy." 

He described the current relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the center as "distinguished and based on the public interest and the interest of both parties. Therefore, dialogue will dispel all obstacles to work and set a roadmap that will draw a unified customs policy that allows the entry of goods in a transparent manner and without complications and obstacles."
 
Mohammed Hanoun stressed that this year is different from all previous years as "sectoral bodies have shown their need for materials that can be imported within the framework of supporting the national product, and allowing national industries to expand and develop through the large factories that have been built during the recent period." 

In the context, he noted that "the import policy is clearer than in previous years, as we have a roadmap that we are proceeding with through the opinion of the sectoral authorities, and the Kurdistan Region is included in this import committee as one of the joints of the Iraqi state, and therefore all our committees at the level of the Ministry of Trade have representatives of the Kurdistan Region present to express their opinion, even the Supreme Committee for Marketing Wheat has appointed a representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the committee to express the extent of the Kurdistan Region's opinion on issues related to the marketing season."

The spokesman for the Ministry of Trade said: "I have information that a delegation from the Kurdistan Region will come to Baghdad and will hold discussions with the Iraqi side at the ports, in the Ministry of Finance and in the Ministry of Trade to establish a roadmap."

Regarding the commercial flour project, he indicated that it is a project adopted by the Ministry of Trade with the support of the Prime Minister, and its goal is that "Iraq will completely rely on local Iraqi commercial flour." 

He added, "We have 4 mills now and one mill in the Kurdistan Region and another will also enter service in the Kurdistan Region, and its mission is to provide citizens with zero commercial flour at subsidized prices. This project received great support from the central government and a decision was issued by the Council of Ministers according to which ministries and agencies are obligated to purchase Iraqi zero commercial flour from Iraqi private mills. In addition, the government will provide these mills with local wheat marketed by farmers and growers at very low prices."

The project, according to him, began "a while ago and we worked with 4 private mills and now it has entered the line of mills in the Kurdistan Region, where we will work to prevent the entry of imported commercial flour, and we rely entirely on local commercial flour."
 
Muhammad Hanoun confirmed that annually, large sums of hard currency "from 750 million to one billion dollars were going outside Iraq, but today we want to support these mills to take their leading and important role in producing zero flour."

He added: "We have the ability and efficiency to produce Iraqi zero flour, and mills in the Kurdistan Region have succeeded for 3 years in grinding large quantities of commercial flour with qualities that exceed imported ones, so we must rely on our private mills in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to support this major project."
 
He continued, saying: "The experience that succeeded in the Kurdistan Region must be transferred to other regions of Iraq to produce zero flour, and rely on local wheat produced or marketed by Iraqi farmers and cultivators."