In an interview with Rudaw on Sunday on the sidelines of a trade summit between Kurdish and Turkish investors in Erbil, Turkey’s Consul General to Erbil Hakan Karacay said Ankara aims to boost its trade volume with the Kurdistan Region and elsewhere in Iraq so it is exploring avenues for business exchange.
Currently, Turkey’s only official land border gate with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is at Ibrahim Khalil in Duhok province near Zakho and Turkey’s Sirnak. But Karacay says “Turkey’s trade and exportation through one single crossing is not realistic,” and is therefore opening a second crossing that would run through Mosul.
“Through this route, Turkey wants to open up to the south [of Iraq] and Gulf countries too by shortening the way” for trade exchanges. Karacay said the building of a second border crossing with Iraq is “a project that benefits all parties.”
By opening a second gate, Turkey hopes to “strengthen and increase its trade volume with Iraq and other parts of Iraq,” Karacay said. “Turkey is trying to elevate its trade volume [with Iraq] to at least $20 billion.”
Erbil hosted a trade summit for Turkish and Kurdish business owners on Sunday as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) embarks on a mission to attract new investors. More than 50 companies and around 150 traders took part in the summit that was organized to boost trade volume between the neighbors.
Trade volume between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey in 2017 was $8.1 billion. This fell to $6.7 in 2018, due to the air and political embargo Ankara imposed on Erbil in the aftermath of its independence referendum in late 2017.
Kurdistan Region relies on neighboring Turkey for the lion’s share of its trade and investment. Like Iraq to the south, the economy is weighted heavily in favor of foreign imports of food and consumer goods, paid for with oil wealth.
The Iraqi side of the crossing is controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga and border officials. Customs revenues are paid to the KRG, which also issues its own visa stamps.
There have long been discussions over a potential new crossing in Ovakoy, 12 kilometers southwest of Ibrahim Khalil — near the border with Syria — which could bypass the Kurdistan Region entirely and allow Turkey to trade directly with Iraq.
Such a new crossing could boost trade and tourism and relieve notoriously long delays at the border. However, a new crossing manned by Iraqi officials could see the KRG sidelined, eating into trade and revenues.
Mosul is Iraq’s second-largest city and Turkey provides a vital and direct land route to the European market.
