2010 saw $5 bln exports go to northern Iraq

Exports worth $5.1 billion passed last year through Turkey's Habur border gate into northern Iraq, a top Turkish customs official said on Friday. Rifat Bolat, the head of the Habur Customs Gate, said that in 2010 some 1.64 million vehicles and 3.34 million individuals passed through the gate. Most of the exports that went through the border crossing into northern Iraq involved construction materials, but significant numbers of potatoes and onions also went through Habur, Bolat said. Compared to previous years, the number of vehicles and passengers using Habur rose 20 percent, he added.