KARACHI: The Iraqi government has agreed to change its rice specification in order to enable Pakistan rice imports which have been suspeded for the past five years.

The decision was taken during a meeting in Iraq on Monday when a Pakistani delegation – led by Director General Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Rafeo Bashir Shah and accompanied by Chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Mahmood Moulvi – met with Under Secretary Ministry of Trade, Republic of Iraq Walid Habib Al-Moswee.

Chairman REAP informed the Iraqi officials that Pakistani long grain rice has not been exported to Iraq for last 4-5 years due to specifications of rice varieties.

Upon this, Mr Walid assured the Pakistani delegation that rice specifications would be changed accordingly to accommodate Pakistani rice for imports to Iraq.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017