The governor of Iraqi Nineveh, Najm al-Jubouri, revealed the imminent direct extension of a railway line between the city of Mosul (in the north of the country) and Turkey, in a plan aimed at reducing congestion on land roads.
Al-Jubouri explained - in a press statement published today - that the Iraqi engineering and technical teams, in cooperation with Turkish engineering construction companies, will start within days the laying of a modern railway line between the two countries.
The project is the first of its kind in the city of Mosul, the center of the province, which witnesses areas of cooperation and major economic and investment exchange with Turkey.
There were no details available on the length or total cost of the railway.
Iraq does not have a railway line with neighboring countries, and relies in trade exchange on the land and sea border outlets.
The Ibrahim Khalil land port in Zakho district, which is affiliated to the Dohuk governorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, is the main outlet for trade exchange with Ankara.
And the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad, Fatih Yildiz, said, in February, that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached 15 billion and 800 million dollars in 2019.
Turkey has turned into a major source of goods imported to Iraq, for reasons linked to geographical proximity, which means lower transportation costs and greater competition for Turkish goods with foreign ones.