Iran-Iraq discuss clearing Shatt al-Arab of sunken ships, war debris

BASRA, Iraq – Iran and Iraq are boosting cooperation over reviving the shared Shatt al-Arab waterway by clearing away sunken ships and other debris from their 1980-88 war, an official in Iraq’s southern Basra province said.

Jabar al-Saadi, a member of the Basra provincial council, said that unresolved issues over the river had obstructed cooperation between the two neighbors.

"The governor of Khuzestan in Iran visited the province of Basra and held meetings with officials in the province to promote communication and cooperation between the two countries through reviving the Shatt al-Arab waterway," Saadi said.

He added that the two sides had discussed the lifting of sunken ships and other remnants of the war in the joint stream.

"These steps strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries, facilitating the passing of vessels as well as commercial and economic exchanges," he said.

On a separate issue, Saadi said that the failure to pass Iraq’s national budget had hindered the development of services projects in Basra that would facilitate tourism and economic growth.

"Most of the service projects are currently stalled due to delays in the general budget,” Saadi said.

Iraq has been without a budget this year: the 2014 budget has remained hamstrung in parliament for the past 10 months, first due to political infighting and then the Islamic State (ISIS) assault in June in which the militants seized control of about a third of the country.

The October 10 deadline for the 2015 budget has also passed without the draft bill going to parliament, according to lawmakers.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month that Iraq’s oil-fueled economy is set to shrink by 2.75 percent in 2014, the first downward trend since 2003.