ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Under pressure from Iran, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has decided to remove all the fees it charges Iranian travelers entering the Region. The Iraqi and Iranian governments agreed to do away with visa fees between their countries in March as part of their drive to strengthen economic and trade ties. The KRG, however, was still levying a 25,000 ($21) administrative fee at its borders, to Tehran’s annoyance. Iran’s consul general to Erbil Morteza Ebadi had threatened to reinstitute their visa fees if the KRG did not abolish the charge. The matter was resolved after a meeting with KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. "Yesterday, we held a meeting with the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region and he decided to remove the fee,” Ebadi told Rudaw on Thursday. The decision will take effect in two days, he added. The KRG Interior Ministry had justified the charge as an “administrative fee” and said they could reduce it, but argued it was exempt from the new free-visa policy. “We don’t collect visa fees. We only collect administrative fees,” Sami Jalal, chief of staff at the ministry, told Rudaw earlier this month. He now confirmed the change in policy. "From May 1st, the 25,000 Iraqi dinars will no longer be received from any Iranian,” he told Rudaw. Iraq and Iran currently do $12 billion in trade, with most of that going in one direction from Iran to Iraq. They want to increase the volume to $20 billion.
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