Minister of Commerce and Investment and Head of the Saudi side of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, announced the opening of the Saudi consulate in Baghdad, pointing to the ongoing work to open three more consulates in three Iraqi cities soon. This came during a press conference held by Minister Dr. Al-Qasabi with the Head of the Iraqi side, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Thamir Al-Ghadhban. Minister Dr. Al-Qasabi said that there are 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding between the Saudi and Iraqi sides in all fields, which are in their final stages and will have a significant impact on raising the level of cooperation between the two countries to achieve the aspirations of their leaders and peoples. The Minister also stressed the keenness of the Government of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH Crown Prince on supporting development projects in Iraq, including the Kingdom's allocation of a loan amounting to one billion dollars last year to support these projects, benefiting the two peoples, in addition to 500 million dollars to enable the exports announced by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir last year in Kuwait, including, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Sports City project granted by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as a gift to the Iraqi people, pointing out that the Kingdom will grant annual scholarships to the Iraqi people to study at Saudi universities. Dr. Al-Qasabi pointed out that Jadidat Arar Border Crossing will be opened after six months from now and will constitute a major step in the way of enhancing trade relations and raising the level of trade exchange between the two countries. It is worth mentioning that the Saudi-Iraqi Coordinating Council aims at enhancing communication between the two countries at the strategic level and upgrading bilateral relations to new horizons in various fields including, economy, development, security, investment, tourism, culture and media. It also aims to enhance joint cooperation between the two sides on important international and regional affairs, protect common interests and develop partnership between the private sectors in both countries. The Council also aims to provide businessmen with the opportunity to learn about trade and investment opportunities and to adopt effective means that help them invest and encourage the exchange of technical expertise among the concerned authorities through the transfer and promotion of technology, cooperation in the field of scientific research, exchange of visits, participation in training programs, and the development of border areas between the two countries.
