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Xinhua (9 September 2019)

BAGHDAD

An Iraqi economist said that the upcoming visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to Beijing later this month could lead to an economic revolution in Iraq through opening broad investment prospects in various fields, state-run al-Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

"The prime minister's visit to China is of major significance for Iraq and could establish partnerships of major projects with China, which could lead to the upcoming economic revolution in Iraq," the al-Sabah newspaper quoted the Iraqi economist Ghadeer al-Attar as saying.

"Abdul Mahdi is likely to agree with Chinese companies on the construction of roads and railway projects and the establishment of new international roads linking Iraq with neighboring countries, as well as the establishment of major industrial cities in the country," said al-Attar.

Al-Attar is also a member of the Iraqi National Business Council, an independent organization concerned with the development of the Iraqi economy and infrastructure.

On Sunday, al-Sabah newspaper quoted China's Ambassador to Iraq Zhang Tao as saying that "Chinese side attaches great importance to developing relations with Iraq, and looks forward to seizing the opportunity of this visit to make joint efforts hand in hand with the Iraqi side to further consolidate and deepen Sino-Iraqi relations."

The volume of the trade exchange between China and Iraq exceeded 30 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, according to Zhang, asserting that "China is the biggest trading partner of Iraq, and Iraq is the second biggest oil supplier to China, and the fourth biggest trading partner of China in the Middle East."

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/09/c_138378495.htm