Damascus, SANA- Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil discussed with chargé d’affairs at the Iraqi Embassy in Damascus Riad Hassoun al-Tai the required preparations for holding the 9th session of the Joint Syrian-Iraqi Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical cooperation at the beginning of next May.

The two sides discussed means to enhance trade relations, underlining the necessity of upgrading them in light of what the two countries are facing of terrorism and a fierce war that notably affected the amount of the two-way trading and the flow of goods between the two countries.

Minister al-Khalil asserted keenness of the Syrian Government on taking all the required measures for speeding up the process of activating and developing cooperation between the two countries.

He hailed the participation of Iraqi companies in the 59th edition of Damascus International Fair, underlining the importance of the agreement signed between the Syrian and Iraqi chambers of commerce and the contracts signed between businessmen from the two countries on the sidelines of the textile exhibitions recently held in Syria.

For his part, al-Tai indicated that the Syrian exhibitions in which Iraqi tradesmen participated have been an opportunity to further enhance relations between the two sides, adding that the Syrian products enjoy a high quality and competitive prices.

R.J/Ghossoun