TEHRAN- Saying that Iran’s neighboring countries are eager for the expansion of economic and trade ties with the Islamic Republic, Iranian deputy minister of industry, mining and trade put emphasis on the necessity of boosting ties with the neighbors.

Referring to the good potential of the neighbors, Saeed Zarandi said that Iran’s 15 neighboring countries with the population of over 600 million people are export markets of $1.3 trillion per year, IRNA reported.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that Iranian government is pursuing in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21).

Iran shares border with fifteen countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Based on the data published by Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the value of trade with the neighboring countries stood at over $36.5 billion in the past Iranian calendar year, that is about 41 percent of the country’s total non-oil trade in the mentioned time span.

Iran plans to launch 15 mega export projects to identify more target markets, according to TPO head.

Mohammadreza Modoudi said with the implementation of these projects, which mainly focus on the markets of neighboring countries, identifying professional trade and promoting export of non-oil commodities will be put on agenda, Mehr news agency reported.

Also on June 24, Sadeq Najafi, the senior advisor to Iran’s industry, mining and trade minister, said the ministry has planned that the annual export of commodities and services to Iran’s 15 neighbor countries will reach $32 billion in the current Iranian calendar year.

Making the remarks in a meeting with the members of Iran’s Free Trade Zone Fraction, the official mentioned supporting exports by the production units as another plan of the ministry in this year which is named the Year of Pickup in Production.

In mid-April, Iranian industry, mining and trade minister said the country plans to double its exports to the neighboring countries by the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (which starts in March 2021).

Mentioning the fact that only two percent of the total imports of Iran’s neighbors comes from the Islamic country, Reza Rahmani noted that his ministry is going to focus on developing domestic production and defining new projects to manufacture all the industrial equipment needed inside the country.

The official further pointed to some of the potent areas which could be worked on in order to increase exports including home appliances, apparel industry, petrochemicals, and marine industries, basic metals such as steel, aluminum and copper as well as agriculture.

MA/MA