TEHRAN – Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) hosted a gathering of officials and businessmen from Iran and Bulgaria on Saturday which aimed for exploring ways of expanding economic ties.

As reported by the portal of TCCIMA, the event was attended by the Bulgarian Ambassador to Iran Christo Polendakov, TCCIMA’s Secretary General Bahman Eshqi and Deputy Director for International Affairs Mohammadreza Bakhtiari as well as representatives of the ministry of foreign affairs and a handful of Iranian and Bulgarian businessmen.

During the meeting both sides emphasized their long history of trade and economic relations while expressing dissatisfaction with the current level of mutual trade and called for measures to be taken in order to boost the mutual trade to a desirable level.

Addressing the meeting, Mohammadreza Bakhtiari said “The level of trade between the two countries should increase in line with provided facilities. When INSTEX is launched, small and medium-sized Iranian companies can partner with their counterparts in Bulgaria, and this will obviously increase the level of trade.”

TCCIMA’s secretary general also stressed the two countries’ 120 years of mutual trade and noted that Bulgaria could be the Europe’s trade gate for Iran.

Bahman Eshqi further mentioned the two sides’ trade turnover in 2017 to be $121 million adding, “Bulgaria imported $3.2 billion worth of goods from the Middle East region while the imports from Iran stood only at $62 million.”

Polendakov for his part, referred to the imminent holding of a joint economic committee meeting between Iran and Bulgaria, saying “the sides’ private sectors should take advantage of this opportunity and promote bilateral trade between the two countries.”

He further expressed hope that the two sides could find ways to develop trade relations.

The Iran-Bulgaria Joint Economic Committee meeting chaired by Iranian Transport Minister Mohammad Eslami is slated to be held in Sofia from April 15 to 18.

Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) is going to dispatch a trade delegation to Bulgarian capital city of Sofia concurrent with the event.

The delegates to be led by ICCIMA Vice Chairman Hossein Selahvarzi are active in the fields of road building and urban projects as well as technical-engineering services.

EF/MA