New Delhi, May 22 (KNN) The Commercial Attaché at the Embassy of Iraq has invited Indian companies or industries to participate in the defence exhibition to be organized in Baghdad next year.

The exhibition will be held at Baghdad International Fairground in Baghdad, Iraq. from March 7 to 10, 2020. This is 8th session of the International Defense Exhibition in Iraq (IQDEX).

IQDEX is one of the leading defense exhibitions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region demonstrating the latest technology across land, sea and air sectors of defense.

The previous editions of IQDEX too have witnessed wide participation from foreign companies, embassies, local and governmental companies in order to meet the needs of the related ministries with the equipment and weapons to enhance its defensive capabilities to face the challenges.

The exhibition gives a platform to establish and strengthen relationships with government departments, businesses and armed forces throughout the region.

To explore the business opportunities in the sector, the Commercial Attaché at the Embassy of Iraq has invited the Indian companies to participate in this exhibition.

The bilateral trade between India and Iraq has exceeded USD 19 bn in 2017-2018 and Iraq has ranked 10th in the list of India’s trading partners. Before 2002, India was exporting USD 52.46 million worth of tea to Iraq, which constituted 73.35% of the overall tea import by Iraq from foreign countries, with Sri Lanka far behind, exporting USD 19.06 mn worth of tea with 26.64% market share.

India is exporting goods especially food products including rice, beans, Sugar and also another items such as steel, pipe lines electrical items, motors, Rickshaws, cycles, construction materials such as tiles, granites, sanitary ware. Among these, lot of items or their parts are produced or exported by the MSMEs.

Iraq has become India’s top crude oil supplier for the second consecutive year, meeting more than one-fifth of the country’s oil needs in the 2018-19 fiscal year.