Switzerland explores sister-city partnership with Iraq’s Babylon
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Friday, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis discussed potential sister-city partnerships between Swiss municipalities and Babylon with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
During a tour of the ancient city, Cassis noted that trade between the two countries had grown 9% over the past year and that a double-taxation agreement is nearing completion.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had urged Cassis to encourage Swiss companies to participate in the Development Road project—a $17 billion infrastructure corridor linking southern Iraq’s Grand Faw Port to the Turkish border—and to help establish a bilateral business council.
Read more: Iraq's ambitious Development Road Project: Concerns and challenges
Located 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, Babylon was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. Once the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BC), the 10-square-kilometer site contains walls, gates, palaces, and temples, of which only 18% has been excavated. In 2024, it attracted nearly 50,000 visitors, including more than 5,000 foreigners, according to official data.
