A businessman introduces his products at the International Trade Fair in Baghdad, Iraq on Oct. 21, 2017. The 44th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital started Saturday, gathering more than 400 companies from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, which attended the event the first time in 27 years. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)
BAGHDAD, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The 44th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital started Saturday, gathering more than 400 companies from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, which attended the event the first time in 27 years.
"Today Baghdad is hosting the activities of Baghdad International Fair under the slogan: we liberated our land and with your cooperation we build it," the Trade Minister Salman al-Jumaili said during his speech in the opening ceremony.
The international exhibition came "within the framework of the efforts exerted by the government to extend bridges of cooperation, and the scientific and cultural exchanges with the world countries to achieve a comprehensive renaissance in the country on various levels," Jumaili said.
The 10-day exhibition witnessed a significant participation of 66 companies for the Saudi Arabia. The businessmen of the Saudi companies were headed by the Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Abdul Aziz al-Faleh.
The Saudi participation is the first in 27 years, since the relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia started deteriorating in 1990 when the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
