ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - China’s bilateral trade volume with Iraq reached $16 billion in six months, its commercial consul in Erbil told Rudaw on Tuesday, adding that the Kurdistan Region has become a “gold mine” for foreign investors.
“The Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Erbil always encourages Chinese-funded enterprises and individuals to come to this lovely land to invest and cooperate in the reservoir area to achieve complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win results,” China’s Commercial Consul in Erbil, Li Qingsheng told Rudaw on Tuesday.
According to Qingsheng, bilateral trade between Iraq and China amounted to $16.3 billion in the first six months of the year.
“China’s exports were $4.9 billion and China’s imports were $11.4 billion,” he said, with Beijing importing more than 26 million tons of crude oil.
The country is the biggest importer of Iraqi oil.
“China is the first market for the Iraqi oil exports, and it alone consumes about 40-44 percent of Iraqi oil exports, with about 800,000 barrels of oil per day,” a financial advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said in July.
Beijing will “continue to encourage” the Chinese to increase investment “for further reconstruction to the development of the region’s economy in the fields of oil and gas, minerals and renewable energy,” said Qingsheng.
Last year, Iraq was China’s “third largest trading partner in West Asia and North Africa with a bilateral trade volume of $30.1 billion,” the consul said.
China imported more than 60 million tons of crude oil from Iraq last year, he added.
Iraqi President Barham Salih had a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 18 where they discussed the importance of cultural cooperation between the two countries and “Chinese companies' role in rebuilding Iraq and their contributions in infrastructure, energy and oil sectors,” according to a statement from the Iraqi presidency.
China and the Kurdistan Region have also held two online fairs since November 2020, hosting both Kurdish and Chinese business figures. The third is to be held Tuesday, with more than 120 companies participating.
“The supportive policy of KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] has a cardinal target to diversify the economy, increase sources of income and decrease the expenses. Many foreign companies consider the region as their headquarters to the rest of the country due to its safety and security measures, which had consequently attracted many foreign investors,” Qingsheng told Rudaw.
“The Kurdistan Region has a long history; it is a gold mine for foreign investors, especially in the agriculture, tourism and natural resources sectors,” Qingsheng said, noting that the Chinese consulate in Erbil was opened in 2014 and bilateral trade between the two sides has “intensified year on year.”
Additional reporting by: Omar Moradi, Mohammed Sheikh Fatih
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