A senior Iranian businessman has rejected media reports suggesting that Iraq will be able to end its reliance on gas imports from Iran by attracting investments from the United States as he insists that the Arab country is to continue to depend on Iran for energy and trade for years to come.

Hamid Hosseini, a former member of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, said on Wednesday that Iraq will need increased volumes of natural gas in the years to come to respond to rising demand for energy in its household and manufacturing sectors.
�We will remain an exporter of electricity and natural gas to Iraq for years to come,� Hosseini told the ILNA news agency.
He said, however, that Iraq may be able to increase its own gas production�to respond to part of the demand for fuel�in its power plants.

The comments came a day after Fuad Hussein, the Iraqi minister of foreign affairs, told Bloomberg Television that Iraq has had �good discussions� with US companies and officials about gas investments in the country to help it end reliance on imports from Iran.

Iraq has secured rounds of waivers from US sanctions on Iran to be able to import gas from its western neighbor. The country also relies on Iran for a considerable part of its demand for electricity.

However, Hosseini said that Iraq will also need to rely on Iran for its trade demands in the future, adding that ports in the country will not be able to respond to a growing demand for imports of goods and products.

�Iraq has no option but to import 20-25 million tons of its demands either via the Iranian transit routes or through buying Iranian products,� he said, adding that it would be impossible to imagine an Iraqi market without the presence of Iran as a main player.

 

 

By PRESS TV�