TEHRAN – A conference entitled “Hong Kong, China’s Trade Gateway” was held here on Saturday at Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines.

A trade delegation from Hong Kong, Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari, Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Chairman Assadollah Asgarowladi, Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines Chairman Mohammad Nahavandian, and some private sector officials from the two countries attended the conference, ISNA reported.
Ghazanfari called Iran one of the Middle East’s most powerful economies and noted that Iran’s foreign trade has surpassed $140 billion for the current Iranian calendar year (ends March 20, 2009), with crude oil and gas exports accounting for 77 percent of this figure and non-oil exports the rest.
He added that the main part of country’s non-oil exports are in the fields of agriculture and services, noting that Iran has 233 technical and engineering projects underway in 33 countries.
The official called for the promotion of Iran-China trade relations, announcing that China is Iran’s third trade partner in the field of non-oil exports.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council member David Wong announced, “China’s economic growth over the past 10 years has been above 9.4 percent.”
“China is the world’s number two economic power and has the largest trade centers in the globe,” he added.
The fact that China is the world’s second leading exporter and third leading importer makes it a good market for consumer goods, Wong said.
He stated Hong Kong is the key to China’s markets and has been named the world’s freest economy over the past 14 years.
Also delivering a speech at the confab, Asgarowladi emphasized on the necessity of promotion of Iran-Hong Kong trade ties in the fields of energy, tourism, small and medium industries, petrochemicals, and road construction.
He also called for the formation of Hong Kong Desk in Iran-China Chamber of Commerce.
ICCIM Chairman Nahavandian said that Hong Kong shows great interest in building trade relations with Iran and has obviated limitations on the way of boosting ties.
He added that investments in Iran in the fields of energy, industrial outputs, transportation, and chemical industry are lucrative