TEHRAN – Trade between Iran and European countries will increase in the coming months, the director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Valiollah Afkhamirad, said.

“Iran has resumed its trade links with its previous trading partners in European markets,” the Mehr news agency quoted Afkhamirad as saying on Monday.

“European countries are regaining their position in trade with Iran. So, trade relationships between Iran and Europe have become more serious,” Afkhamirad said, adding: “Italy and Germany play a more prominent role compared to other European countries”.

Italy was the leading trading partner of Iran before sanctions are imposed on Iran. Bilateral trade reached €7 billion in 2011, while it has dropped to around €1 billion now. Nearly all large Italian companies had established centers in Iran.

Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) and Italian Institute for Foreign Trade, known as Istituto per il Commercio con l'Estero (ICE), signed an agreement in Tehran on August 4.

Also, German Ambassador to Tehran Michael Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg has already said that German companies are keen to boost links with Iran and directly invest in the country.   

Germany was the 14th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.      

Iran exported $354.17 million of non-oil goods to Germany and imported $2.33 billion of non-oil goods from the country.  In 2014, the two-way trade was only 2.7 billion euros.

Iran has set a target of $77.5 billion in non-oil exports for the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, according to Mojtaba Khosrotaj, the Iranian deputy industry, mining and trade minister.  

Iran’s total non-oil exports hit $49.744 billion in the previous Iranian calendar year, showing 18.87 percent rise from $41.848 billion in its preceding year, according to the Iran Customs Administration.   

AK/