Tehran, Baghdad Urged to Enhance Cooperation in Communication Network Development

TEHRAN (Iran News) Seyed Sattar Hashemi, in a meeting on Wednesday evening with Nasir Abdulmohsen Abdullah Al-Khrawi, Iraq’s ambassador to Tehran, highlighted the cultural and religious ties between the two nations. He noted that Iran and Iraq have collaborated in bandwidth provision for Arbaeen ceremonies over the years, leading to significant improvements in communication infrastructure during the event.

Hashemi described enhancing cooperation in the development of a reliable communication network for Arbaeen pilgrims as crucial to ensuring better connectivity between visitors and their families, ultimately leading to greater satisfaction. He stressed that this issue should remain a priority for both countries.

The minister also referred to previous collaborations in smart governance and cybersecurity, emphasizing that sharing Iran’s experiences in these areas could be another field of cooperation with Iraq.

He mentioned Iran’s strategic plans for developing advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), stating that Iran has made serious efforts to utilize AI capabilities and is willing to extend collaboration in this domain with Iraq.

Hashemi further highlighted joint investment opportunities in international transit, undersea fiber-optic cables, and the establishment of large data centers in Iran as promising areas for bilateral cooperation.

For his part, Iraq’s Ambassador Al-Khrawi underscored the strong and extensive relations between the two nations, stating that high-ranking officials from both sides have set a target of increasing annual trade exchanges to $20 billion. He noted that a portion of this trade volume is expected to include the communications and information technology sectors. “Baghdad ”

He pointed out that Iraq requires enhanced cooperation with Iran in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and communication infrastructure.

Al-Khrawi also referred to the significant number of pilgrims traveling between the two countries, with 8 to 10 million Iranians visiting Iraq annually and 3 to 4 million Iraqis traveling to Iran. He stressed that such large-scale exchanges necessitate a special joint effort to improve communication services.

The meeting was also attended by Hamid Fattahi, Deputy Minister and Head of the Communications Regulatory Authority, and Behzad Akbari, Deputy Minister and CEO of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Company, who elaborated on potential areas of cooperation between the two nations.