Iran and Iraq have reopened their main border crossing to facilitate the exchange of people's visits and regional cooperation, Iran's English-language Press TV reported on Thursday.

The reopening of the crossing at Khosravi of Iran's western province of Kermanshah took place after a closure of about two years, said the report.

"The reopening of the crossing would contribute to raising the number of pilgrims to Iraq's holy Shia cities" and boost trade between the two neighboring countries, the province's Governor General Abdol-Majid Ghafouri Rozbahani was quoted as saying.

Ra'ad Molla-Javad, the governor general of Iraq's Diyala Province, also hailed the reopening, saying that Iraq and Iran share a 1500-kilometer-long border that could facilitate regional cooperation in cultural, political and economic fields.

The border terminal, said to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East region, was closed in 2006 by the Iraqi side due to certain security reasons. It has the capacity to deliver services to up to 10,000 passengers daily.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2008)