Baghdad, Erbil reach agreement to revive stalled trade
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government have agreed to extend deadlines for cargo transfers and warehouse storage, a top border official told Rudaw on Tuesday. The move aims to ease weeks of disrupted trade between the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq.
'In a meeting between the technical teams of the border crossings from both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Baghdad government, an agreement was reached on four points that will open the door for the export of goods,' Omar al-Waeli, head of Iraq's Border Crossing Authority, said.
The agreement extends the time limit for transporting goods from the Kurdistan Region to federal checkpoints from 72 hours to one week. It also doubles the permitted storage time in warehouses from 60 to 120 days. Additionally, goods stored since April 15 are now authorized for delivery to Baghdad-controlled areas, and all trucks must be equipped with customs seals.
The deal comes after Baghdad implemented new trade regulations in April requiring that only trucks with QR-coded customs seals may enter federal Iraq, according to Maysam Bolani, head advisor to the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce.
Bolani then told Rudaw that under these rules, shipments must remain sealed and be delivered within 72 hours between the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Of note, a customs seal is a stamp affixed to goods imported through the Kurdistan Region's border crossings with Turkey and Iran, which must remain unbroken until the cargo reaches federal checkpoints.
Baghdad's regulations followed a March 11 directive issued by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) and applied to all shipments entering from Turkey and Iran via the Kurdistan Region's borders.
Transit permits for trucks transporting goods from the Kurdistan Region to federal provinces expired in mid-April, leading to warehouse shortages and increased concern among traders.
Around that time, Mustafa Sheikh Abdulrahman, head of the Kurdistan Importers and Exporters Union, told Rudaw that the new restrictions had led to the depletion of many storage facilities in the Region.
Notably, a prominent Turkmen politician representing Kirkuk in the Iraqi parliament, Arshad al-Salihi, warned on Saturday that new federal trade restrictions on shipments from the Kurdistan Region could lead to empty markets in Kirkuk and Mosul.
In a video message posted on his Facebook page, Salihi stated, 'Traders across Iraq in general and traders of Kirkuk and Mosul in part, are caught in the crosshairs of the dispute between the [Kurdistan] Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government [of Iraq].'
'Please sideline the ordinary citizen from your conflicts as they are the ones who lose the most,' Salihi stated addressing Erbil and Baghdad, stressing, 'Enough disputes!'
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