Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq make plans to build railways with Turkey

The Minister of Transportation and Communications in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) said that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government jointly prepared a draft agreement with Turkey for the construction of an international railway that will connect the three countries.

Ano Jawhar Abdoka said:

"We have concluded a draft agreement with Baghdad which will include Baghdad, Turkey and us [Kurdistan Region], in order to build railways from the port of Fao to Baghdad, Kirkuk, Erbil, Mosul, Duhok, and from there to Nusaybin and Turkey.”

In February, the KRG signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Bahn, the national railway company of Germany.

Abdoka said that Iraq reached an agreement with an Italian company for the project and KRG is working on an agreement with the British TenBroeke.

In the 1990s, the Iraqi railroad system was left to crumble because of the US imposed sanctions. The Fallujah-Baghdad route was completed in 2018.

Prime Minister of KRI, Masrour Barzani earlier said that he has been in talks with Iraq, Turkey, and the Gulf countries for a regional railway network that would boost trade.